Sekhukhune United Senior Coach MacDonald Makhubedu says the club owners are too busy to interfere with technical team issues and tactics.
Makhubedu who has been confirmed in his new role this week after Kaitano Tembo was roped in as the new head coach on a three-year deal said he had no issues with management and the recent changes in the technical team as he gets to grip with coaching in the South African top-flight.
And while he stopped short of discussing the recent sacking of Owen da Gama after just five games in charge as his co-head coach he addressed the claims made by a recent report in FARPost that management interferes with the selection and that was the main reason behind da Gama’s abrupt exit.
“I’ve been two seasons with the club and 80% of the games I only see the bosses at the stadium after the match or sometimes when we score there are people celebrating in the VIP, especially during Covid-19 times with no supporters,” he tells iDiski Times.
“I’ve attended all meetings, but my bosses don’t attend or understand what’s going on in technical team meetings. You remember they are business people? You see them at the stadium after the match, sometimes you don’t even see them.
“So I’m not bad-mouthing anyone or covering anyone, but if there were interference I could have left in my first game in the NFD, I was even shocked yesterday, that was new to me. And co-coach with Owen, I never experienced that. My bosses are professional, they run big companies so they don’t have time for technical meetings.”
Makhubedu admits he enjoyed working with da Gama in his brief two-month spell at the club and respects him but reiterated that suggestions of the hierarchy meddling with the tactical side of their game are unfounded and something he wouldn’t have tolerated in their run to secure the GladAfrica Championship title or in their debut DStv Premiership campaign.
“I enjoyed working with coach Owen but other things are not for me to talk about, I respect everyone, that’s just my character…I didn’t have a problem, he had some other things like I don’t know what he was talking about but he said we are not on the same level, what, what, what. As co-coaches, we’re the same level, we have the same description but I don’t want to go there, I respect him, he knows that,” he continued.
“But the main thing is this interference, it may now seem like I tolerate that and I’m not a professional coach, but I can tell you I wouldn’t allow that and will never happen at the club. The article is zero percent truth, we always attended meetings together since NFD days, there have never been bosses in the meeting, they are too busy.
“I think in the first round I didn’t see them for seven fixtures, they’re business people but they don’t miss games but we only see them in the VIP or after the games, they don’t come to the dressing room even.”
Babina Noko released 14 players last week before Tembo’s appointment and have already secured Denwin Farmer and Abednego Mosiatlhaga while several more additions are expected to be confirmed in the coming weeks.
