Despite guiding the side to their first league title in 14 years, Orlando Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou’s post-match press conference comments have left many asking questions about his future at the club.
Ouaddou won the Betway Premiership title in his first season in charge of the club, having taken over from Jose Riveiro. He also clinched the MTN8 and the Carling Knockout in what is one of the most successful seasons for the Buccaneers.
Pirates dethroned rivals Mamelodi Sundowns for the title, which they have won for the past eight seasons.
ABDESLAM OUADDOU’S COMMENTS CAST DOUBTS ABOUT HIS FUTURE WITH THE BUCCANEERS
But speaking after the 2-0 win against Orbit College FC at the Mbombela Stadium, Ouaddou said he needed some time to think about his future.
“You are asking me that question. We just won the treble. You know I am a passionate man, I am working with love in that job,” said Ouaddou.
“I had the chance to play 17 years at the highest level. So you can imagine I am not chasing contracts or money. I am doing this job for passion and I wanted to especially do it in my continent of Africa. But you need energy, you need power. You need motivation to do this job. You know, to lead Pirates is not easy.
“It’s an ecosystem of millions of people and if you had social media, I call it the popular quotes. When you have been judged by millions of people. Maybe they don’t see what you are doing in the week,” he explained.
ORLANDO PIRATES COACH SAYS HE NEEDS TIME TO THINK ABOUT HIS FUTURE WITH THE CLUB
“They don’t even know exactly the purpose of your work. The amount of work and sometimes people are easy to judge and social media becomes popular quotes and for that you need energy to accept that. For now I can not answer your question.
“My only wish is now to rest, to be with my family and to think about the future. This is the most important part for me because you can not lie to people, this job is very difficult, very difficult. You need all the capacity, the motivation to lead such a project. I have to sit to think and to speak with my fantastic and honest management.”
“There are a lot of expectations from the fans and I speak now because I am tired. It’s been 10 months of working and I need energy. So I am not able to talk to you about the future at the moment.”
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