Orlando Pirates assistant coach Mandla Ncikazi has responded to the criticism on co-coaching after Fadlu Davids had told iDiski Times it doesn’t work, and also touched on the topic of cliques at Bucs last season.
Davids had told iDiski Times in an exclusive interview in edition 63 that, despite having a good relationship with Ncikazi, he feels the co-coaching concept doesn’t work because each of the co-coaches always needs to make compromises.
Ncikazi and Davids were at the helm of the Sea Robbers last season and lead them into the CAF Confederations Cup final, where they lost on penalties to RS Berkane. They also dropped out of the CAF interclub spots for the 2022/23 campaign in their final three games, leading to Davids’ departure and the club leadership appointing Jose Riveiro, with Ncikazi becoming part of his technical team.
When asked by iDiski Times about Davids’ comments on co-coach, Ncikazi opted to remain coy on the topic.
“There are things that are in my control and things that are not in my control and I can only respond to things that are in my control,” Ncikazi said.
“Maybe the co-coaching is not in my control, maybe it’s a good question to the wrong person.
“If you’d ask me whether I choose it then I’ll respond but I don’ think it’s for me.”
Ncikazi was also asked whether there were cliques in the Buccaneers’ squad last season following several reports in local media, but he again opted to somewhat sidestep the question.
“The cliques in the club? I think most clubs do have it, depending how you view it – if it’s a clique that works for the team, it’s a good clique, but if it’s a clique that doesn’t work and results are not coming then it becomes a bad clique,” he elaborated.
“I wouldn’t exactly know specifically which clique and information that you had, therefor maybe answering whether there was a clique or not a clique…
“But remember that it was only one year that I was in the club and I joined the club in the pre-season of that season, so I wouldn’t know much, maybe someone [knows] who’s been there for a long time would answer correctly.
“But in all clubs that I’ve worked for, there is always that assumption [there are cliques], especially when things are not working well.”
Pirates were hosting local journalists as part of the club’s 85th anniversary celebration, in an attempt to improve their relationship with the media.
