Stop With The Interference, Dear Owner or Chairman

“I know my job. I know my job because I have studied it for 30 odd years as a players, and if people leave me alone to do my job, I’ll make this club a success,” said Baroka coach Dylan Kerr in his post-match interview following his sides 1-0 win against Mamelodi Sudowns on Sunday 31 August.

The statement from the former Arcadia Sherpards player, hinted at possible boardroom influence. Asked about him wanting to be allowed to do his job in a press conference Kerr replied ‘that’s just something inside of me, ill keep that to myself.’ In the heat of the moment following a crucial win, Kerr reached his breaking point, when he should have been happy, he was angry.

The reality is that owner or chairman interference has become a norm in South African football. If you have someone over your telling you how to do your job, you’ll end up being a frustrated figure and you might even end up dreading your job; that was Dylan Kerr on Sunday. Unfortunately, there are many Dylan Kerr’s out there, from the highest level of South African football down to the grassroots base.

What you are likely to hear from your superiors as a coach is; ‘why don’t you play him?’ ‘our best player, play him.’  And in some occasions, you will find yourself being helped with the selection of the team, that goes beyond micro managing, it is just degrading and insult to the coach’s intellect.

This thing of club owners interfering in football affairs, has to be thrown out the window. Yes, it is your club and no one is disputing that, but putting in your dirty shoes in the coach’s business sucks the life out the essence of their job, and the football.

Its mind blowing how you can hire a coach who has obtained qualifications for the job and then along the way find them to be inadequate, why didn’t you appoint yourself from the beginning if you were not going to respect them. Telling someone how to do their job is one of the greatest form of disrespect in football.  You do not hear of the coach telling the medical team or conditioning coaches how they must do their job, why should the owners or chairman subject them to such.

A recent example of a coach who was belittled by their chairman is former Cape Town City coach Benni McCarthy, in an interview with Robert Marawa on Marawa Sports Worldwide at the start of the year, he revealed that he had to put up with a lot of things; such suggestion of player selections, players running to the boardroom when not playing , him having no input on signings and the chairman’s son, telling him who to play.

“It’s a South African thing, I don’t want to generalize, but when you speak to a lot of coaches, you hear it’s the same thing; interference, interference from the boardroom, you need to play this one, you have to sign this one but we accept.

We take the job and what comes with it and its what you do with it in the end. So, for me it was a constant thing. I’m fighting about playing this one, fighting about team selection but at the end of the day I always made it my team, I made the final decision,” said McCarthy.

South African football needs to do without chairman interference, its tiring and exhausting, if you fell equipped to do the coaches job, put on your boots and go to the training ground.