Cape Town - Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba probably had one of the most unusual and amusing quotes of the recently completed PSL season, among the many things said by coaches and players during the past nine months.
Speaking about his critics Mashaba said: “I want them (the monkeys) to sit on my back and I don't want them to jump off, please. Because the weight that they're putting on, it keeps me on my toes, because I'm also saying 'I've got to feed them, these monkeys' and how to feed them? Deliver, that's all.”
Besides Mashaba's words, which turned out to be wrong because he did not deliver, failing to qualify for AFCON (African Cup of Nations), this past season was a memorable one for South African football fans - and especially Mamelodi Sundowns.
Sundowns did the double by winning the Absa Premiership and Telkom Knockout, Ajax Cape Town took the MTN8 title and SuperSport United were the Nedbank Cup winners.
Despite the Brazilians ending as the runaway league winners, the early season produced plenty of drama and some very frustrated coaches. According to PSL.co.za Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane had this to say after after they beat Bidvest Wits early on in the season.
“If we have to win the championship we need to start winning against credible sides like Wits. Games like these are title-winning games. These are games when your body gets bashed up.
“I told my team 'if you want to win the championship, you must start winning games like this'. I told them at halftime 'If you want to cry, I will hand my tissues to you, or go and f**king grind it'. Go grind it and win the game.”
Then there was a quote from an agitated Mosimane after drawing with Platinum Stars “I like the boy (Masibusane) Zongo, he's a good footballer, he's very exciting and I've got nothing personal against him, but if he has to win Man-of-the-Match for this game, really?
“I don't know who chooses the Man-of-the-Match because we are going to promote tricks only, without precision. You need to look at how many number of entries he made into the box, how many goals he tried to score, how many crosses he made, not how many tricks he made. Otherwise we are going to kill our football.”
Meanwhile Sundowns captain Ramahlwe Mphahlele had this to say about Mosimane: “We have a coach that is a little bit crazy.” Then there was yesterday's man, former Maritzburg United coach Mandla Ncikazi on tough start to new job.
“When you start making excuses as a coach you get a little bit closer to the door and I don't want to make excuses for my team. I still have confidence in the team. With luck I think things will turn our way.”
Ajax Cape Town coach Roger de Sa was full of talk after they beat Kaizer Chiefs 1-0 to win the MTN8.
“You beat Pirates, Chiefs and Wits, I think you deserve the cup! Overall I think we deserved to win it. The youngsters were outstanding. I think the boys at the back were unbelievable and so were the guys in midfield. Overall, I'm very happy for the kids, they have really grown up a lot.”
The 'Dog' Clive Barker summed it up when he became the second coach at Maritzburg in the season, on the mood when took over. “It was flat very flat, flat, flat. It looked like a party with no champagne left and they were flat.”
Ex-SuperSport coach Gordon Igesund after they finally won a game, in October. “When we are losing games, everyone likes to put the knife in and have a go, but it's only a matter of time. There's a bit of understanding between the players, they're a new team and I've said once we get a victory we will turn things around.”
Then there was Kaizer Chiefs coach Steve Komphela talking about demanding fans. “All we can say to Amakhosi fans is that we can understand fully when they demand certain players, because they know we have signed 32 quality players.
“We as coaches say yes when you put us under pressure and demand a particular player because we know you have more than 11, but we can only play 11.”
And Sundowns boss Mosimane again on how he liked his team to play after they went 6-1 in their cup match against Free State Stars.
“I was worried that I would see people dancing on the ball and doing all these other shibobos. In my team I don't want that. I want six goals! What's the point of doing shibobos and you score two goals? Score six, big teams score six.”
More from Komphela after a 2-1 win over Mpumalanga Black Aces in the Telkom Knockout. “We had enough time and chances to kill the match, which we did not do. Maybe a lesson to us is that we have to be more ruthless, if you have him against the ropes you cannot be nice, there are no Mr Nice Guys in life, the nice ones come second, so we need to be more ruthless.”
And what about under-pressure Orlando Pirates coach Eric Tinkler on calls for him to be axed. “I don't live with fear. I don't allow it to affect me if I have to be entirely honest with you. There is always going to be criticism, but what is important is that you believe in yourself and what you do against that criticism. That's always been my belief. I ignore it and I move on as long as I know I'm doing what I'm capable of doing.”
Tinkler also spoke about CAF Confederation Cup final opponents Etoile du Sahel: “There was a lot of acting on their part, the striker must have taken about seven dives, he looked like an Olympic swimmer.”
Finally Wits coach Gavin Hunt bemoaning a refereeing decision: “We are not a fashionable club, so these types of things will happen to us. We certainly didn't get the rub of the green with the decisions. I think we must have had about six penalty decisions against us this season in 12 games, and we haven't had one.” Never a dull moment when it comes to soccer coaches here - and around the world.
African News Agency