David Thidiela’s clear mandate to Joel Masutha

Black Leopards chairman David Thidiela gave head coach Joel Masutha and his technical staff a clear mandate that the club needs to return to where they ‘belong’ at the end of the season.

Leopards are in their second season in the Motsepe Foundation Championship since their relegation in the 2020/21 season.

Despite boasting one of the big support bases in South African football, Leopards have been relegated three times since 2001 when they first participated in top flight football.

Speaking during the official Gala dinner to officially welcome the club at Malamulele Stadium by the Collins Chabane Municipality on Wednesday evening, Thidiela reiterated his confidence in Masutha’s capabilities given what he has achieved before.

“Mr Masutha, it’s a challenge. There is no reason that you can’t (return to the DStv Premiership). You did that in the past. There is no reason that you can’t take us back to the premiership where we belong,” said Thidiela to the applause of the dignitaries at the Malamulele Town Hall.

Thidiela did not want to divulge much on the collapsed relationship with Thulamela Municipality but insisted their move to Malamulele was because they had no other home.

“God’s time is the perfect one. Everything has its own time. To cut a long story short, we have a history. Black Leopards have a history and sometimes we are blamed for why our team is running away from Thohoyandou. It was simply because we didn’t have a home.

“I am not a politician and I am not going to involve myself in politics but we didn’t have a home. When you practice on gravel and at the weekend you go and play on a ground surface in Polokwane, it is difficult to do what you normally do because the grass surface is not the same. So, people didn’t understand but because we don’t have much time tonight and we are here to celebrate that we have found a new home,” he said.