Doctor Khumalo believes that Fernando da Cruz and other overseas-born coaches working in South Africa should follow Stuart Baxter’s example by taking the time to understand the players they manage.
The French tactician will officially take up his role as Kaizer Chiefs head coach on 1 July, following the conclusion of his stint as technical director of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation. He has been entrusted with ending Amakhosi’s long wait for league success, as the club has not won the Premiership title since Baxter guided them to glory in the 2014/15 season.
Khumalo, who enjoyed the bulk of his illustrious playing career at Chiefs from the mid-1980s to 2004, served as Baxter’s assistant during that title-winning campaign and the club’s 2012/13 league triumph.
Although Baxter had already built a reputation as Bafana Bafana’s head coach, it was at Chiefs that he cemented his legacy in South African football. According to Khumalo, Baxter’s greatest strength was his exceptional man-management and deep understanding of his players, qualities he believes Da Cruz and other foreign coaches in the PSL would do well to emulate.
DOCTOR KHUMALO GIVES DA CRUZ ADVICE ON DEALING WITH SA PLAYERS
Khumalo, chatting to FARPost on behalf of 10Bet, said: “Every country has their own culture, then its own philosophy; a different approach in terms of the game. It is paramount. It’s very important for the coach to understand the culture of South Africa because if you’re going to work with players that you don’t understand, you don’t know what makes them tick, I don’t think you’ll be able to survive.
“When we had Stuart Baxter at Kaizer Chiefs, I was his assistant, and the first thing that he asked me was: ‘How do you deal with South African players?’ And I had to advise him. We made it work and won the league here in South Africa twice.
“The beauty about the whole thing is that when I was doing my coaching licence in England, he was one of the instructors. We had a shared coaching education. We had one philosophy because he understood how I operate and vice versa. But the most important thing was understanding the culture and how to handle a South African player.
“If you’re going to falter in that one, you’re not going to get it right. That is something that I must tell you because it’s not just about the culture. You need to understand what makes a skilful South African player perform. You need to understand that if you coach here.
“As a coach, you need to understand the do’s and the don’ts. Don’t be too aggressive. What I mean by being too aggressive is in terms of trying to limit them from the skill that they possess and focusing more on the physical side of the game, because most South African players, you don’t teach them the step over. It’s natural. They’re born with that. So you don’t come in and teach a step over, you know.”
Just as Baxter perfected the art of getting into South African players’ heads, Khumalo revealed that a former coach from his playing days, who was not from South Africa, provided a clear example of what not to do.”
DOCTOR KHUMALO ON A COACH WHO WAS AGGRESSIVE
“I won’t mention the name of a coach, but while I was still at Kaizer Chiefs, there was a coach that came, and he was so aggressive; he didn’t understand the culture here in South Africa,” Khumalo recalled.
“One of the players lost his friend, a close friend, and we had a very crucial game over the weekend, and the player just asked for 30 minutes to pay his respects. But you should have seen the coach, he was screaming, telling the player that the family of the deceased will pay his salary and all that, blah, blah, all those things.
“You shouldn’t say such things, but if you understand the culture of here in South Africa and what it is that makes the players tick, then you will get it right.”
When Chiefs announced da Cruz as their incoming head coach on 17 June, the Glamour Boys cited his time working at prestigious French club Lille in various capacities, including as caretaker head coach in 2017. They noted his experience working with Marcelo Bielsa and developing players such as Idrissa Gueye, Lucas Digne, Victor Osimhen, and Eden Hazard.
However, if the words of ‘16V’ are anything to go by, then da Cruz’s success depends not only on his esteemed player development skills but also on how quickly he can develop his own understanding of South African players.
Article written by Leonard Solms
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