Butler caught between a rock and hard place
Mqondisi Dube | Wednesday May 14, 2014 13:16
Butler has seen a vertiginous shift in trajectory after a kind 3-0 shellacking of a hapless South Sudan in his first Zebras assignment. To critics, the result represented nothing but an easy victory against football nobodies.
Up next on Butler’s menu was a meek Platinum Stars, which however, put the first blot on his Zebras record with a 3-0 wallop. Swaziland came on Sunday and left with a heavy 4-1 victory, which heightened transient feelings. These results are the sort of stuff, which embolden and tickle Butler’s critics. Had he beaten the two sides, ‘football rape’ was going to echo endlessly. Now as Butler lies writhing, vultures are ready to descend ruthlessly.
However, he appears unshaken about his record so far in games that he largely fielded a young team devoid of experience save for the South Sudan assignment. As always critics are standing by the corner‚ ready to lunge at his brief, but poor Zebras record. The small crowd at the New Lobatse Stadium on Sunday dished another side, which Butler would not rather see; booing their own team.
His stay in Botswana has not lasted longer than an insect’s life but he has already witnessed the bad, the good and ugly of local football. On both sides of the divide stand hard to please fans. His development project has been dismissed in some quarters as a waste of time.
“The development of players should not take place at national level,” responded a fan on Mmegi’s Facebook page.
But typical of his colourful character, Butler has refused to be cowed. He insisted this week that if there is an overwhelming feeling that if he is not the right man for the job, fair enough. “I will leave and both parties will be happy,” he says.
Deep down in Butler’s mind he knows his young project will find the rocky like Burundi players a tough nut to crack and he has been quick to call for reinforcements.
Oscar Ncenga, Lemponye Tshireletso, Edwin Olerile and Musa Ohilwe have been called to add steel to Butler’s project.
But again, his critics are not amused arguing he knows his young charges are overawed and is showing signs of desperation by turning to the old guard. But some would contend, the players called-up are eligible to don national team colours.
The coach is within his rights to call-up any player as long as they are citizens. A call-up should not be mistaken for desperation, is the other argument.
The Briton, has vowed to continue with his development project and warned that results will not be instant. Already, Butler is dwarfed in the middle of skeptics, with his long-term commitment in question over perceived nomadic tendencies. But he is determined to leave a lasting legacy by developing a formidable future Zebras squad.
However, the truth has hit him hardly three months since landing in Africa; he will either parachute into a rock or hard place. Bujumbura, in the heart of one of the poorest nations in the world will be a critical epi-centre on Sunday. No doubt, the Sunday AFCON assignment has assumed new significance as the Zebras and Butler in particular bid to put an emphatic assurance stamp post-Stanley Tshosane.