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Newly promoted Golden Arrows need to go back to their roots if they want to succeed in the Absa Premiership.
This is according to the team’s erstwhile skipper Siphiwe Mkhonza who believes that the club needs to rediscover the identity that made it a dominant soccer side just a few seasons ago.
Mkhonza, who spent two seasons at Abafana Be’sthende when the club was first promoted to the PSL at the turn of the century, pointed out that Arrows’ relegation should serve as a strong wake-up call.
“Arrows compromised its culture of identifying players who suited its style of play, and by the choice of coaches later on,” said Mkhonza, who amassed just more than half a century of games at the Durban-based side.
The former Bafana Bafana defender says the jury is still out on the appointment of new club coach Serame Letsoaka.
“Maybe Serame’s appointment has to do with his experience as a former national youth team coach when compared with Shaun [Bartlett], who is still developing as a coach. I feel sorry for Shaun, because he promoted the team.
“Serame knows the culture of local football, but the test will be the manner in which he adjusts to Arrows’ culture,” he said.
Mkhonza has seven Bafana caps and is currently a soccer analyst on SABC Sport.
City Press’ attempts to reach Arrows chairperson Mato Madlala were in vain this week, as she neither answered her phone nor returned voice and SMS messages.
Speaking on Bartlett’s departure from Arrows, Madlala previously said: “Shaun’s contract expired in June. We were not going to extend it.
“Shaun did a wonderful job but I believe it was a team effort. I felt it was time to move to someone else. Serame is good at development and he’ll be grooming future Arrows players.”
She also admitted to making some mistakes.
“I changed the team from being a development team to being a competition team. We lost the focus of the way the team had always been run, and produced players. I lost track of bringing exciting and unknown players every season,” Madlala told Metro FM this week.
“We are not going that route again. That was one of the mistakes that took time for me to admit. My wish is to produce exciting players and for the team to challenge everything on offer,” she added. She hinted that, in rebuilding the team, there would be no mass big-name signings. This was despite speculation that the club was interested in the Orlando Pirates duo of Khethokwakhe Masuku and defender Ayanda Gcaba.
Madlala has not commented on her publicly stated regrets about how Arrows declined after it lost faith in local coaches.
The team’s downward spiral can be traced to the period in which the likes of Zoran Filipovic, Ernst Middendorp, Muhsin Ertugral and Mark Harrison coached Arrows (see graphic).
The Arrows that first introduced itself to the Premier League in 2000 won with true South African flair and lost with dignity
