The eloquent coach who spoke confidently about his team’s plan to win everything on offer is now talking in hushed tones about the need for a survival strategy. The club owner who previously shouted belief in his coach is now searching for a technical director.
Such is the difficulty of life in the Absa Premiership.
And rookies Baroka FC are finding it out the hard way as they occupy bottom position on the 16-team table of the country’s elite league at the halfway mark.
Renowned for their giant-killing acts in the Nedbank Cup while they were still campaigning in the National First Division (NFD), the Limpopo outfit was expected to set the Premiership alight after gaining promotion this season.
And their coach, Kgoloko Thobejane, didn’t mince his words as he declared himself and his team ready “to win every trophy” on offer.
Sure the Telkom Knockout was won by a rookie club, but the trophy is in the Cape Town City cabinet and not in Lebowakgomo.
The league title is definitely out of reach for Bakgaga who are in danger of an immediate return to the second tier league, sitting precariously as they do in 15th position after 15 matches.
Thobejane is now concerned about keeping the team afloat instead of winning trophies. The refrain ‘we need to stop conceding silly goals’ has fast replaced his earlier pontifications as he finds it hard to get his team to replicate the form that took them to the Nedbank Cup quarter-finals last season.
It is the words of club boss Khurishi Mphahlele, though, that tells the true story of a side that has had the penny drop.
“We’ve got to make a few changes,” he said on Thursday .
Whereas most club bosses would have rushed to bring in a new coach, Mphahlele would rather get Thobejane help than fire him.
“We still have faith in Kgoloko,” he explained. “But we need to get him some kind of assistance and we are currently talking with a few guys with the view of getting one of them as a technical director. There’s always strength in teamwork and we believe Kgoloko and the entire technical team will benefit from getting someone with lots of experience.”
Mphahlele was not willing to divulge any names because “we have not finalised things yet”.
Former national Under-23 assistant coach Kenny Ndlazi has long indicated his interest in joining Baroka and is known to have made inroads into getting the technical directorship as early as the beginning of the season.
Coaching is not the only thing Baroka intend fixing and Mphahlele revealed they are going to ask Orlando Pirates to loan them Thabiso Kutumela, the striker who was responsible for the club’s promotion as he top-scored for them last term. Kutumela is warming the bench at Pirates and a return could do him a world of good while it will definitely help Baroka.
“While we acknowledge the dangerous position we are in, we are not panicking because the team has been playing very well. But I’d rather we played badly and won matches than what has been the case with the goals not coming. We are working on fixing it by beefing up our strikeforce and one option is to ask the chairman (Irvin Khoza) to loan us Thabiso.”
Baroka have also been leaking soft goals and currently have the joint-second worst record having conceded 20 times.
“We clearly need to fix our backline,” Mphahlele said. “And we are busy trying out a few goalkeepers so that we can keep our current guy on his toes with some competition. We also have to get a centre-back and we will use the transfer window period to fix those positions.”
He remains adamant, however, that they will not be relegated given that 12th-placed Bloemfontein Celtic are just three points above them.
“We are not scared. We know that just two wins will take us away from the danger-zone because the teams above us don’t have too many points more than we do.”