Patience is a virtue.

This is a time-tested saying that has rung true throughout the ages. About 99% of the population has heard this saying and have used it to great effect. Who is the other 1% you might ask?

Football owners, managers and some die-hard football fans.

Why?

You only have to look at the amount of coaches who come and go in local and international football. This culture of hiring and firing is extremely detrimental to football sides as there is no ongoing cohesion or established team ethic.

Success is not a quick fix but rather a hard graft.

The latest casualty of this mentality of fast paced success is Muhsin Ertugral, the now former coach of Orlando Pirates, who handed in his resignation on live television after his side lost 6-1 to Supersport United. He was only in the job for four months.

One match does not make a man and the consistent demands from clubs for results are detrimental in the long term.

Pirates’ previous coach, Eric Tinkler also left the post in disgrace after a fruitless season. The last proper coach who left on his own terms at Pirates was Ruud Krol who led the team to Absa Premiership success.

A prime example of how perfection is attained through perseverance is the great Manchester United manger, Sir Alex Ferguson. Ferguson was the Red Devils manger in the late nineties and had to wait four years for his first championship trophy – The 1990 FA Cup. United could have easily fired the Scotsman after two years without success but held on and that was the key.

Ferguson spent almost 30 years at United and bagged all the trophies on offer, leading the most dominant sides in the Premier League era to unprecedented heights.

A new culture needs to exist and managers should stop being cannon fodder when teams lose. The manager can only do so much – the players need to start being accountable. That is the only way a club can produce the necessary results – they score the goals and save the shots.

Give coaches a fair chance, their experience amounts to more than pure results.