Swallows FC head coach Dylan Kerr says he’s fed up with being labelled as a survival specialist after leading the fourth DStv Premiership club to safety.
The 52-year-old has now steered Black Leopards, Baroka, Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila and now the Dube Birds to safety after succeeding Brandon Truter at the club in December last year.
It appeared a case of deja vu with yet another six-month spell leading a club looking destined for relegation for another chance at the elite level in South Africa, as they became the 11th top-flight club to survive the relegation/promotion playoffs in 18 seasons.
“The three previous times [lead a team to survival] it’s not been in the playoffs, it’s always when you win or lose it’s nice to experience something like this but I’ve had enough of doing this, I’m fed up being labelled as a coach that keeps teams up,” Kerr said after the 1-0 win over AmaTuks at the Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium.
“It’s a great honour, especially when you don’t know the circumstances involved in this, you know there are things that happen off the field, that are detrimental to football, the technical team, the players and their families.
“So we’ve learnt the hard way, we’ve got into the playoffs, won against a very tough team to play against, very direct team, very one persona team in Tuks but we kept going, we kept trying, we never gave up and the players deserve the credit for the result and it was pleasing to keep a clean sheet as well.”
Kerr who also had spells with East African giants Simba SC and Gor Mahia went on to admit that it’s been a really testing time at the club throughout the reported administration issues but lauded his squad for the courage and fight they displayed to keep the club up against TUKS and Cape Town All Stars.
“I think it’s been well publicised but it’s not for me to say. There are things that have happened at the club where we’ve made mistakes, everyone makes mistakes and we need to rectify that, we need to rectify it to move forward,” Kerr continued.
“The club was under a lot of pressure, we’ve been under a lot of pressure, my players have been under immense pressure to perform. But the way they’ve played for me – it’s been fantastic, the only thing that’s missing has been a goal-scoring opportunist that we need.”
Kerr’s contract is set to expire at the end of this month and the coach confirmed he will be travelling to the United Kingdom imminently and has yet to receive assurances of a new deal.
