Quotable coaches can keep us entertained

Football is a strange and unpredictable game and that is why we love it so much. It is our daily bread and for some of us who are lucky enough it is also a way for us to put food on the table.

In the job I do, I get to interact with all the stakeholders in the game – from supporters to toplevel managers.

But the people we interact with the most are coaches and thus you sort of develop favourites among them.

For example, Steve Komphela is almost every journalist’s “fave” as the youngsters term it these days.

Steve gives quotable quotes every time he speaks to the media and sometimes teaches instead of commenting on issues around his team.

It is a pity that at Sundowns he does not partake in interviews as much as we would like him to.

But there is one thing that Steve is good at that is actually very wrong, for us as journalists at least.

Steve will give long answers and you leave him thinking umgodla wakho ugcwele (your bag is full) when you actually have nothing.

I interacted with him the most when he was at Chiefs a few years ago. You’d get there and speak to him and go back to the office to file your stories thinking you had at least four different ones from one interview.

Big bargain right? Wrong. When you got to listen carefully to what he was saying it was only then that you realised he was actually saying just one thing, but in many ways.

I also like Kgoloko Thobejane. Yes the “football will kill you a real death” Thobejane. I was so happy when they brought him back to the senior team at Baroka.

My first interactions with Thobejane were when Baroka were still in the GladAfrica Championship.

That is when his team were runaway leaders and he would make statements so bold you’d be tempted to sometimes not write what he said.

But he lived up to his words most of the time and guided Bakgaga to the top flight with ease. So what I like about him is his honesty.

The day he made the now famous “football will kill you a real death” quote he was being honest.

He cannot hide his emotions and I enjoyed watching how his chest was beating when he played Orlando Pirates on Thursday night.

There are other coaches who I will not name because igama lomuntu inkomo – loosely translated, this means you do not go around outing people for their fallibilities if you are not rich enough to compensate them when they sue you.

Those are the kinds that have been over-coached on what or what not to talk about, so much so that they think there is a hidden agenda behind every question posed to them.

Then there are those like Gavin Hunt. I believe Gavin just doesn’t like people and he speaks to them only when he has to.

Trust me, I can relate.