Johannesburg - Let’s cut Eric Tinkler some slack. No one would have been more disappointed than the Orlando Pirates coach when the scoreboard read 1-1 at the end of his side’s first-leg CAF Confederation Cup final against Etoile du Sahel in Soweto a week ago.
You see, rumour has it that the Bucs’ coach is holding on to his job by a thread, and winning the continental title could be his saving grace.
The former Bafana Bafana midfielder described the clash against the Tunisians as the “game of his career” as a coach and elaborated further by claiming it ranked as high as winning the Africa Cup of Nations championship with the national team back in 1996.
That’s a loaded statement if you read between the lines. Pirates have been superb in the Confed Cup and near-atrocious in the domestic league, a run that has earned Tinkler the nickname “Toddler”.
We all thought their poor showing in the Premier Soccer League was coming to an end when they registered back-to-back wins against Kaizer Chiefs and Ajax Cape Town in the Absa Premiership earlier this month, only to experience another slump when bitter rivals Amakhosi dumped them out of the Telkom Knockout.
It was through the lottery of penalties that Chiefs booked a spot in the December 16 cup final against Mamelodi Sundowns in Durban, but for Pirates’ fans, and most importantly Tinkler’s bosses, it was another defeat.
On Sunday, Tinkler leads his men into the lion’s den in the second leg of their Confed Cup final in Sousse. Pirates go into this clash as underdogs partly due to Etoile’s unbeaten record at home in their continental journey and it is their 5-1 hammering of Egyptian giants Zamalek in the semi-finals that will send shivers down any oppositions’ spine. They also don’t concede a lot of goals in their own backyard, having only allowed their defence to be breached twice in all their matches at home.
Tinkler must be sweating, and with good reason. His desperation to win this trophy is probably akin to a fish needing water to survive. But he can take solace from the fact that Pirates are equally as good on the road and can score goals - 31 of them, making the Buccaneers the highest-scoring team in the competition. This game could determine whether Tinkler stays on or joins the ranks of the unemployed.
That said, there’s the other side of the coin to consider. Pirates’ chairman Irvin Khoza doesn’t strike me as a trigger-happy club owner who hits the panic button every time a coach endures a bumpy ride. Having heard him speak of Tinkler and why he hired him, despite his average CV in his relatively short career, Khoza appears to be a big fan of the coach’s work ethic and his potential in general. After all, trying to juggle the energy-sapping travel schedule of playing in Africa and still maintaining a convincing display in the domestic league will have even the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson at a loss for ideas.
Yes, some Pirates’ supporters have already turned against Tinkler following the team’s early exit in the MTN8 and their failure to reach the final of the Telkom Knockout by losing to Chiefs, a side no Bucs’ fan ever wants to see getting the upper hand.
But the coach surely deserves some credit for getting the team this far in a CAF tournament. And it’s not even the halfway stage of the Absa Premiership, where the Buccaneers occupy 11th place after nine matches, but have two games in hand. Tinkler has already benefited from this experience on the continent, coming up against some of Africa’s best sides. There’s no doubt he’ll come out of it better equipped, regardless of whether Pirates win the cup or not.
And here is one more thing to mull over. With the coaching musical chairs such a regular feature in South Africa, who wouldn’t want Tinkler in the dugout at the club after such a robust approach to a continental tournament that is laden with obstacles?
Saturday Star