We really don�t trust our own

Thuso Palai | Thursday July 23, 2015 16:48

Last season only two teams in the Top Eight bracket were coached by locals and the two have been released and replaced by foreigners. Are they really that bad or we don’t have confidence in them? Rasta Kgengwenyane and Junior Lotlaamoreng have been replaced at BDF X1 and Police X1 respectively by Beston Chambeshi and Maxwell Moyo. These are foreign coaches who haven’t been very successful here but have been a flash in the pan here and there.

If Kgengwenyane and Lotlaamoreng can mix it up with the big boys, why not give them more of an opportunity? Or maybe they are bad coaches? Makes me wonder. So as the season starts the big names teams in the country will be led by foreigners and as is always the case, the debate on whether they add value as opposed us empowering our own coaches will continue.

Currently the likes of Stan Tshosane, Chicco Nare, Rasta Kgwengwenyane, Nelson Olebile, Innocent Morapedi remain without teams. Are they bad coaches? Why are they not given a chance at the big name teams and given all the support and resources afforded to the foreign coaches? When a foreign coach comes and asks for this and that player, the cheque books are opened and all that he wants availed, and when it is a local at the helm, he is given the proverbial ‘ga go na madi’ story.

Most of the current coaches in the League have enjoyed their success while at the helm of well off teams like Township Rollers, Gaborone United and Centre Chiefs, where they can buy success by splashing cash on whoever they want in the market. In recent years, Zimbabwean Madinda Ndlovu has dominated and won all and sundry. But questions remain unanswered.

Ndlovu did not enjoy much success while at the other lowly teams like Motlakase and Nico United where he could not buy as he wished, and has won all he has won here while at Magosi and Popa, further stroking questions of whether he is any good or he buys success. Ndlovu has been relieved of his duties at Popa and has joined  Orapa United.

The jury is out and we will see what he will achieve this season with a modest budget at the Orapa based side. Now this is the time for him to show his true colours at an unfashionable side that finsi9shed 2nd in the League last season. The same can be said about Mike Sithole and Rahman Gumbo who have had success when at cash laden clubs while being humbled elsewhere. If they are so good that we rotate them around the top teams, why can’t they prove themselves at the lowly sides with less budgets. 

I must however commend sides like Extension Gunners, FCSatmos and GalaxyFC, amongst a few local sides, for having locals at the helm. It’s a pity they are not at teams where they can open cheque books and acquire services of the cream de la crème of players in our League.   

On the other hand, some of the local coaches have been given a chance, but didn’t make the most of the chances afforded to them. They might have spoiled it for everyone else. For now it seems like most of the locals are only good as assistant coaches.

 The issue of local vs. foreign coaches is a hot topic all over the world. Some Leagues and indeed teams, never veer off that much, while some Leagues are dominated by foreign coaches. The same can be said about Botswana, where we seem to trust foreign coaches more that our own. Foreign coaches always seem to get more time to prove themselves and always seem to get what they want, be it pay, players, or any other resource.

For me, I always look at what difference foreigners make, so as to justify why we cannot have a local in that position. All over the world, if you are to have a foreigner in your side, they have to be better that what you have locally. And if a foreign coach does well, why should I complain?