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Heads to roll in 2007
22/12/2006 12:41 - (SA)
Tumo Mokone
As the 2006/7 Premier Soccer League season goes into Christmas recess, the mood is pregnant with explosive expectations in the New Year.
Firstly, it is already mind-blowing that a small club like Silver Stars is top of the log. Stars are simply the team of the moment because only last week they were also crowned the inaugural champions of the Telkom Knockout. Paying R4.25 million to the winners, the Telkom cup is the biggest pay in any national league in Africa.
Ironically dubbed The Tycoons, despite their documented financial struggles, the team is achieving through collective effort, and the determination of their long-serving coach, Owen da Gama.
Striker Simba Marumo and captain, keeper Wayne Sandilands, are two of the hottest players in the country right now, and if their names are not going to make the list for the player of the year award, then there is no justice in football.
Soccer fans can't wait for the season to resume in January, just to see how much longer Stars will shine at the top, with top guns Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns stomping aggressively behind them.
The usual line by the punters is that smaller clubs do not have the resources (or maybe guts) to go all the way. Which could mean, therefore, that the race is actually between Chiefs and Sundowns - the country's richest clubs.
Both clubs boast the best playing personnel around, big name sponsors and club facilities that are the envy of other clubs. Chiefs and Sundowns players are also motivated by huge incentives, and high expectations of their massive fan bases. But amid all this, there is pressure.
Stars, on the other hand, can't be bothered by exterior forces. Five months ago they played their home matches in an empty Royal Bafokeng stadium in Rustenburg.
They only started having fans in the last few weeks, which is not surprising for a team which earlier this year relocated from Limpopo in search of better fortunes in the North West province.
What will 2007 bring?
While other fancied clubs are seriously considering dumping their coaches and reinforcing with new players when the transfer window period opens in January, Da Gama is sleeping easily. The former Moroka Swallows striker has been coaching the team for ten years. He also played professionally for Dynamos, when the team was still based in Gauteng in the 1980s.
It is remarkable that the new Dynamos gained promotion to the PSL only four seasons ago, with Da Gama commanding the march out of the green, green bushes of Venda, where the team played in amateur ranks.
Clubs that are set to start the new year with new coaches are Orlando Pirates, SuperSport United, Black Leopards and Maritzburg United. Maritzburg and Leopards showed their coaches the door already this week, and it is a matter of speculation who the new incumbents will be.
The Pirates and SuperSport seats are hotter, and the respective managements are under pressure to announce the departure of current mentors - Milutin Sredojevic and Pitso Mosimane respectively.
Pirates, who are unusually languishing in the relegation zone, have already indicated their intention for 2007. Two weeks ago they appointed ex-Leopards coach Bibey Mutombo to be the technical director. But in South African soccer culture, this means Sredojevic is being prepared for his dismissal, especially that he must now report to Mutombo.
Mosimane was slapped with a two-month suspension from all football activities by the PSL last week. On Wednesday he watched United's last game of 2006 from the stands, in a goalless draw against Jomo Cosmos. That his club's management decided against appealing his punishment after the PSL tribunal found him guilty of attacking a match official, shows the club has had enough of Mosimane.
His wish is to be the assistant to Bafana Bafana's new coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, who is expected here in January. Mosimane's ambitions have hampered his focus, and at times also angered club bosses.
Everything points to an exciting push for league honours next year. And, apart from Stars, Bidvest Wits are also lurking as the dark horses, and it is exciting to see the Students returning to the top flighting a stronger team.
For Pirates - who last week snubbed the 2007 Champions League season by withdrawing their name from the hat - 2006 is the year they want to forget quickly.
With the widely reported cases of misbehaviour by underachieving and yet pampered Bucs players, heads are sure to roll in January.
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