Tse Nala sing the early blues
Koketso Kgoboge | Friday November 8, 2019 13:52
Tse Nala have endured a poor start to the current campaign. In the nine matches played thus far, they won one, drew two and lost six times amassing five points that left them languishing in the relegation zone.
They scored seven goals and conceded 17. Their troubles were exposed by a heavy 6-0 defeat at the hands of Orapa United last weekend.
The few supporters who turned up for the match were agitated and chanted songs demanding the sacking of the coach with every goal they conceded against the Ostriches.
The chants summed up how dreadful at home, the MmaBesi club have been. They are yet to win at the Serowe Sports Complex. Their best home result was a share of spoils against Gaborone United. The draw gave them a point out of a possible 12 at home after four games, with three goals forward and 12 behind their net.
The series of defeats seem to have upset their supporters, who are not turning out for the matches as they used to in the past seasons.
Club spokesperson, Edwin Ntau was not surprised with the poor attendance, He said the society, which owns the club, has abandoned and dumped the club to the management.
He reported that less than 10 members attended the past annual general meeting after the initial gathering was postponed due to a no-show.
The club has faced a perennial exodus of quality players every transfer window. The trend persisted in the past transfer window.
Only one regular player remained, and amateurs were brought in to fill the gaps. Their recruitment of inexperienced players worked for past coaches, Daniel ‘Chico’ Nare and Boyo ‘Oris’ Radipotsane. Nare led the MmaBesi side to a bright start in the 2016/17 season before Radipotsane subsequently took over and steered the club to their best ever fourth position finish, which saw the team qualify for the lucrative Mascom Top 8.
They had made a debut in the competition after finishing sixth in their return to top-flight football in 2014-2015 season. In 2015-2016 season, they ended on 11th position.
In the past season, Tse Nala finished on position nine with 37 points. Ntau conceded their current plights are compounded by Club Licensing requirements. He said the requirements have made their campaign extremely difficult.
He said the club owed rentals where players are staying and owe the players salaries but are still struggling to secure a sponsor that would aid the welfare of players. They have Angels as their technical sponsor.
“We are fighting a losing battle. In the next two months or so the players will start complaining about salaries and BFA will dock us points. And with this deduction of points we are going to relegate,” he said.
Following a string of disappointing performances, he said the club management sat down with the technical team and the squad to introspect.“The results are hurting, but we figured our squad was new and the technical team is working around the clock to bring the players to paces. We believe in them and we are trying our best to support them.”
Coach Otsile ‘Chippa’ Koolese bemoaned lack of pre-season preparations. He said the squad was completely new and without Premiership experience. However, he believes his players have the potential to turn around the tables. “We did not start well because we didn’t have preseason preparations. The team is made up of amateur players that still have stage fright. We are using competitive games to build combinations and it is killing us,” he said.
“They need to gain a bit of some confidence and then they will perform. We are not under any relegation pressure.”