Muhsin Ertugral will have a spring in his step as his tenure with Orlando Pirates begins with a home fixtures against familiar foes Golden Arrows tonight. There is a lot to be excited about for the German-Turk, who guided the now defunct Mpumalanga Black Aces to fourth place in the Absa Premiership last season: new job, spanking new team and probably a nice chunk of change to take home at the end of the month.
But how long will things be rosy at the Buccaneers for a former Kaizer Chiefs coach?
Well, it is all up to him really - and maybe the players tasked with winning more matches than what turned out to be quite a disastrous season under Eric Tinkler.
I had to hold in my laughter last week when Pirates chairman Irvin Khoza described Ertugral’s previous gig as a ‘holiday’ in an interview shortly after the launch of the MTN8 at the Tiny Factory in Sandton. A nice little spot that, by the way, and it appears they have scored a decent tender to host PSL events this season. Sorry, I am digressing. Back to Ertugral and his holiday.
As far as Khoza is concerned, Ertugral could have easily pulled the strings at Aces from a beach nearby, but will not have that luxury at Pirates, who finished the 2015/16 season in seventh place and were unfortunate to lose the CAF Confederation Cup to Etoile du Sahel of Tunisia over two legs, but were totally hammered by SuperSport United in the Nedbank Cup final in May. Asked what his expectations for Ertugral were, Khoza waxed lyrical about ‘making history’ and didn’t make mention of specific trophies.
But he did add that because of the stature of the club, any coach appointed into the hot seat should not expect his mandate to be spelt out.
And Ertugral will understand this having had two stints at Chiefs previously and the fact that he generally sets high standards for himself. He is very quick to remind everyone that making sure Aces finished in the top five was his own target, not that of the Morfou brothers when they hired him more than a year ago.
If he has such high demands of himself, then pleasing Khoza shouldn’t be that hard then.
The coach has also been given the ammunition as far as playing personnel goes, with the Buccaneers recruiting more that 10 new players.
The tricky part is this rumoured meddling with the team, that the coach isn’t really the one in charge of picking the starting line-up. You can’t blame those who believe there are external factors when it comes to deciding who plays after we recently saw two players - defender Tshepo Gumede and striker Lehlohonolo Majoro - join Tinkler at Cape Town City, the very same coach who left them frustrated on the sidelines at Pirates.
As far as I understand, Pirates have a selection committee, which includes the coach and his technical team. Maybe in the past they have done more than just suggest a particular player to start the match, and Ertugral is going to have to deal with that in trying to work his magic with the team. It will be a long season if he doesn’t. - The Star
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