Cape Town City coach Eric Tinkler says staying away from social media after he lost the first three matches of the season was a blessing in disguise because it would have thrown enormous pressure on him.
Tinkler, as he was under pressure as City was at the bottom, credited his chairman John Comitis for sticking with him even though there were awash talks that he was next in the firing line.
City lost to Mamelodi Sundowns, the game that almost did not take place as the Cape club was not given a green light by the PSL to emblazoned FNB as the sponsor in the shirt, in the opening game of the season.
Next, they lost to Swallows FC and AmaZulu respectively, all away matches, triggering talks that he was the man living on borrowed time.
To make matters worse, Tinkler was without key players – out injured and administrative issues.
Captain Thami Mkhize was injured and so was Terrence Mashego, who then left to join Sundowns. The other player out was Taariq Fielies, who picked up an injury with the Bafana squad that lost to Morocco in the opening match of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifying in June last year.
Congolese steely defender Nathan Fasika was left stuck in Congo, waiting for his work permit to be issued.
These are things that were beyond Tinkler’s pay grade, but his chairman understood and hence he stuck with him.
“I stay away from social media because if you sit and listen to social media, it puts an added pressure on you,” said Tinkler.
“Any articles that are in the news, I completely focused on my job because I know what I‘m capable of.
“At some point you are going to be fired, that’s the game of football – we can’t always win. As much as you would like to, it’s going to happen. If you fear it, then you are not going to be a good coach.
“So I don’t fear it. I continue to do what I believe, stick to my principles, and what happens happens.”
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Tinkler says the league needs football minded people like Comitis who can have a football conversation and understand the game dynamics.
He added there are many ways to sack the coach, revealing: “If you are going to judge coaches, you are not going to judge them with only three results.
“You also going to judge – does he still have control of the team, do the players have the belief in the team, those are situations you need to look at.
“You also have to look at why the team found itself in this situation and he (Comitis) understood everything I have explained. Sadly in SA we are trigger happy, too soon (to fire) and show lack of respect to the coaching industry.”
At the end, Tinkler gained control as City finished fourth and his striker Khanyisa Mayo shared the PSL Golden Shoe award.
