Benoni flavour at Supersport United
Premier Soccer League (PSL) club Supersport United has a distinct Benoni flavour to it lately, with the recent appointment of Northmead resident Alan Clark to the technical coaching staff.
The Pretoria club already boasts the services of Benoni football players Rowen Fernandez and Bradley Grobler.
Clark, a lifelong Benoni resident, has been appointed at Supersport United to assist the first team and the head coach, Cavin Johnson.
His role requires him to provide technical analysis of the club’s opponents and to assess the strengths and weaknesses of opposition players.
He serves a dual role and will work with the club’s elite youth development structures as well, to ensure that young players take the step up from the academy to the first team.
The coach is a Benoni High School old boy who matriculated in 1997.
Clark is also a former school teacher, who served as the head of sport at Norkem Park Primary School, in Kempton Park, for many years and played a part in the development of players such as current Mamelodi Sundowns player Muzi Mashaba and Baroka FC’s Augustine Ramphele.
He previously served under Johnson as a technical analyst at Platinum Stars, where the team enjoyed a highly successful campaign, finishing as PSL runners-up in 2012.
Before that Clark worked with former Bafana Bafana coach Pitso Mosimane in the senior national team.
Following his time at Stars, the Benoni resident joined Mamelodi Sundowns as a development coach, working with the u-15 and u-19 sides.
About eight months into the job, Johnson came knocking at Clark’s door to join him at Supersport United.
“It was an opportunity I could not resist,” he said.
“Cavin is a very good coach to work with and is also an extremely nice guy.
“In the high-pressure environment of professional football it is hard to find a coach like him, so you must stick with him.”
He stressed that a good football player needs to have a firm grounding, self-motivation and be very clear in his goals.
“Players will experience many ups and downs in the world of professional football, and it is how a player recovers from a setback that will define him in the long run,” Clark said.
“A player needs to be confident, almost on the border of arrogant, and must be technically better than their competition.”
The 33-year-old father of two believes that Supersport United have a very good chance of winning the league.
“If the players can adapt and change their style of play to what the boss wants then we will win games and play attractive football at the same time,” he said.
