Milutin Sredojevic , coach of Orlando Pirates won Coach of the Month during the Absa Premiership 2018/19 Monthly Awards at PSL Offices, Johannesburg on 02 May 2019 ©Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix
Pirates Chairman Khoza backs Micho to end trophy drought
Irvin Khoza feels that Orlando Pirates need everyone to pull together to ensure the club meet expectations next season.
Milutin Sredojevic , coach of Orlando Pirates won Coach of the Month during the Absa Premiership 2018/19 Monthly Awards at PSL Offices, Johannesburg on 02 May 2019 ©Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix
Orlando Pirates Chairman Irvin Khoza has dismissed rumours that coach Milutin Sredojevic could be on his way out.
Khoza said that expectations for the new season were high and the pressure to succeed enormous, but said that the entire Pirates’ squad and support staff team needed to pull together.
“You can’t talk about the technical team. It is an effort of everybody. It is not only about the technical team,” Khoza revealed in an interview with IOL.
“It’s all about how players respond mentally and how serious they are in terms of giving the technical team support. It’s all about how they behave on and off the field.
“It is everybody’s role, not only the technical team. It is the responsibility of everyone to come up with a solution. This includes the technical staff, the players themselves and the support system that we’ve put up. It’s not only about one person.
“There’s no place in the world that a coach alone can give you results. It is impossible. But they are important in terms of setting up the tempo and maintaining the appetite to always want to do well.
“They have to guide everyone like the conductor does. But everyone must pull up his socks. We can’t shift the blame to one person, it is unfair.”
Pirates pain
Sredojevic has guided the Buccaneers to two successive second-place finishes in the Premier Soccer League and watched his team lose the 2018 Telkom Knockout final on penalties. Khoza said that everyone around the team needed to do their bit to help Pirates meet expectations next term.
“The expectations are high from all the stakeholders, whether it is the supporters, sponsors or media,” said Khoza.
“When we do recruitment we always ask the technical team about the acquisitions that can improve Pirates. They have tried their best in making sure that they are in the final and we finished second in the past two seasons.
“There are still things we need to fine tune. We have a new technical staff because of the demands of the game. It is not easy to compete in Africa and at home.”
The 2019/20 PSL season begins on 2 August 2019.
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