Clayton Daniels says he spoke to his former Maritzburg United boss, about the club always selling their best players, without being able to replace them. Here Daniels shares his thoughts that relate to the current situation at the club.
Once again the Team of Choice find themselves in the relegation zone, having conceded 19 goals so far and possibly needing a new coach after a string of poor results, leading to talks with John Maduka and his technical team on Monday.
“I came in at a time when they were really struggling, and they were already nominated as relegation candidates,” Daniels told This Is Football.Africa.
“When I came in, things turned around with my leadership and experience. I brought a different mindset or mentality to the team, things changed even though we started losing our best players. Players like Kutumela, de Reuck, Hlongwane and others who can win you games. We always started with a new team and new players. It was difficult, because it was almost like working a double job. At training I had to perform, game time I had to perform, but also managing players, talking to them, getting players into the right mindset, and communicating with them individually. It was a double shift, but I wanted to stay, and continue where I left off because I could see the difference that I made”.
Financially this will be extremely strenuous on the club itself, because a dip into the market in January will be seen as necessary, given the performance of the current players. The only upside is the amount of time the new coach will have with his players during the FIFA World Cup break, where the defence can be worked on, as well as the lack of goals to go with it.
“I had a long discussion with the boss about the development, how to get the team to the level it needs to be,” continued current Cape Town Spurs captain.
“You can’t be selling your best players without replacing them. You let go of players, but the youngsters you bring through are not ready for the PSL. I spoke to the boss about maybe investing in an academy, I thought because if you are a selling team, then you need a conveyor belt of talent to replace the ones you sell. The Boss said I’ll have to wait for the new coach (John Maduka), before he can give me an answer on whether or not I will stay on. Farouk didn’t come back to me after two, three weeks and Cape Town Spurs kept showing an interest, so thats where I ended up. It wasn’t about money for me, or about playing in the PSL, but about giving my service to the people that need it the most.”
