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Screamer Tshabalala addresses Pirates’ interference rumours
‘I don’t like that myself because when you are a coach, the team belongs to you - it’s your team,’ says Tshabalala.
Screamer Tshabalala and Dr Irvin Khoza during the memorial service of the late former soccer star Philemon “Chippa” Masinga in 2019. Photo: Gallo Images / Sowetan / Veli Nhlapo
Orlando Pirates elder, Stanley ‘Screamer’ Tshabalala has spoken about an incident that sparked rumours that he was interfering with the coach’s work.
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This was brought to light in 2020 when Tshabalala was caught on television speaking to then Pirates captain Happy Jele.
It looked like he was telling him something about what was happening on the field as he pointed at it.
A few minutes later, during half time Jele was seen speaking to the players after they came out from the changeroom. Jele was not part of the team on the day.
But in an interview with Durban’s Gagasi FM at the weekend, Tshabalala says their little talk was not about the team, but he was asking Jele for water.
“He said to me, ‘ey asidlali kahle today (we are not playing well today). And I said, ‘no man kuzoba right, yiza wena namanzi siyi-4 la’ (everything will be fine, just bring us water, there are four of us here,” said Tshabalala.
“But now it is made out like we were coaching or I was telling him what he should tell the coach.”
Tshabalala hates meddling
Tshabalala denied that there was or is any interference with the coach’s work at Pirates and said he personally hates such.
“No coach wants to be told what to do and not to do. When a coach is a coach, the team is his – he works with that team…
“And he owns that team, so you can’t just go and tell the coach who to play – it can never happen.
“I don’t like that myself because when you are a coach, the team belongs to you – it’s your team.
“Anyone who comes from the outside and wants to tell you what to do must first come to training and see what is being done.
“You can never change the team the coach has chosen,” explained Tshabalala, who previously coached Mamelodi Sundowns.
Tshabalala and former club administrator Floyd Mbele have always been fingered as the people who meddle in team affairs at Pirates.
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In an interview with YouTube channel TK Solutions recently, former Pirates star Thulasizwe Mbuyane outed Mbele as the culprit.
Mbuyane said Roger De Sa, who was coach then, told him he was instructed by Mbele not to play him in certain games.
