JOHANNESBURG - With a permanent coach at Orlando Pirates set to be announced on Monday, the rumour mill has been in overdrive. Augusto Palacios remains interim coach for Wednesday night's PSL clash against Wits, and away to Cape Town City on Saturday, but the truth is the 65-year-old Peruvian didn’t raise the bar high enough during his short stint as caretaker.
Irvin Khoza, the Pirates chairman, earlier this week said the best candidate for the job is currently tied to a contract and there was a deadlock in negotiations around his buyout clause. Here we look at three coaches who are immediately available and can do a better job than Palacios.
Patrice Carteron
The Frenchman has been kicking his heels in obscurity since throwing in the towel at African giants TP Mazembe in January last year. He is no doubt dying to get back into the thick of it, and what better way to do that than make his way to South Africa and take over a side in desperate need of a coach with such an incredible work ethic and a proven track record. Carteron clinched the 2015 CAF Champions League with Mazembe and guided the Mali national team to third place at the Africa Cup of Nations three years ago.
Patrice Carteron is currently coaching Al-Nassr in the Saudi Professional League. Photo: EPA/STR
Michel Dussuyer
He is probably still reeling from failure to go beyond the group stages of Afcon with defending champions Ivory Coast last month and resigning shortly thereafter. Dussuyer, however, is a well-travelled coach and his rise in this continent should not go unnoticed. Sure, taking a talented Ivory Coast side to Gabon and surprisingly going home so early remains a blemish on his CV, but he can certainly do a much better job than Palacios is doing at the moment - even if the Frenchman is also just a temporary fix.
Milovan Rajevac
Contrary to reports, the former Ghana and Algeria coach is currently unattached and has even expressed a keen interest in taking over the Bafana Bafana job. Many will remember him for guiding Ghana to the quarter-finals of the 2010 World Cup, but he hasn’t had much success since moving from the Slovenian and Saudi Arabian leagues, then back to Africa to coach Algeria, where he quit in October after just two matches. Despite all that, the Serbian would still make a better alternative than the beleaguered Palacios.
Milovan Rajevac has success with Ghana. Photo: Reuters/Thomas Mukoya