By Monwabisi Jimlongo
Normally, we would talk about third time lucky, here Chippa United returnee Daniel ‘Dance’ Malesela is hoping to be fourth time lucky with the Chilli Boys.
Malesela returned to Port Elizabeth to coach the Chilli Boys for a fourth stint after club chairman Siviwe ‘Chippa’ Mpengesi fired
Lehlohonolo Seema in December.
The former Lesotho international had led the Chilli Boys to one win, two draws and five losses since the season started in October.
Fired for the second time by TS Galaxy following a poor run, Malesela jumped the long queue of the unemployed and is now going to lead the Chilli Boys when they clash against SuperSport United in a DStv Premiership match away at the Lucas Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville on Wednesday (17h00).
‘‘The response from the players is good. I was actually surprised by the response from the players. A lot of the players that are here are very new to me. The response in listening to instructions at training has been very good,’’ said Malesela.
‘‘Our first game will tell us where we are. If we get maximum points it will be very good, if we get a point it will be fairly good. We
need to entertain as well. We have to get ourselves out from where we are now. Once we have done that then we can start thinking about the top-eight.’’
The former Orlando Pirates captain insisted that he didn’t leave the Rockets on his own volition. And he also re-iterated that the Chilli Boys’ encounter against the Rockets on Saturday, 17 January, won’t be a grudge match for him.
‘‘I didn’t release myself from TS Galaxy. I was released from the team. In actual fact I was asked to step down from the head coach position,’’ he said.
‘‘I hate this thing of having grudge matches. I want us to be professional and play what Chippa United can play. I’m always confident, I’m always optimistic unless something wrong happened somewhere. Sometimes it’s other factors that go wrong, not the actual football.’’
Malesela made it clear that he keeps coming back to the Port Elizabeth club because there is still something that he wants to achieve at the club. He added that he returned to Port Elizabeth because the Chilli Boys needed him in their fight to move away from the relegation zone.
‘‘I’m one person who believes that there is a big change I can do in football. That won’t happen if I was sitting at home. There was a
vacancy and I was asked to come, I agreed to come,’’ he said. ‘‘Obviously, I had to consult, had to speak to my manager to see if it’s okay. I had to consult my family first and reassure them that I
would be safe. I won’t have a heart attack because I’m too strong. I don’t worry about things that are on the past. ‘‘The fact that the club keeps calling me says that they have seen something in me that is different from other people. What is key is that we have to have results, you cannot sit at the club and says the club likes you without results. We need to get results. We need to have a team that can get results then things will be smooth sailing.’’ Malesela understands that he has a very tough job to rescue the Chilli
Boys from going further down on the Premiership standings. Currently, the Chilli Boys are stuck on 14th position on the Premiership table with five points from eight matches.
‘‘It’s not an easy thing now because in January only we have seven matches, four matches in 10 days. This is a crazy situation, one that is understandable. This is the situation for all clubs. The team that
is more disciplined will survive this month,’’ said Malesela.
Meanwhile, the former Manning Rangers, Mamelodi Sundowns and Pirates defender is impressed with some of the players he found at the Chilli Boys.
‘‘There are quite a lot of impressive players, but they have to understand where I’m trying to take them to. They have to understand each other first,’’ he said.
‘‘To be honest, it’s a fairly better squad though I don’t like comparing because other people get upset. This is a team that can
compete. Obviously, there are areas where one wants to beef up. I’m looking at players who may not be used by other clubs.’’
Malesela is the only coach in the long list of coaches, who have coached the Chilli Boys, to lead the Eastern Cape side to a top-eight
finish at the end of the 2015/16 season. He led the Chilli Boys to the semi-finals of the MTN8 the following season.
