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Barker in it for the long haul

Cape Town - Newly appointed AmaZulu head coach Steve Barker has explained his reasons for quitting AmaTuks to join the Durban club.

Barker spent eight years with the Tshwane side in various coaching roles, and was part of the technical team that brought the club up from the National First Division.

Speaking on Thursday at his official unveiling at AmaZulu, Barker says he hopes to use his man management skills to assist the club in moving away from the foot of the table, where they are seven points clear of safety.

"The future now is with AmaZulu and I have obviously applied my mind with regards to the situation at the club and I would have not taken this job if I did not have confidence in myself, in the players and the club - that we would not get ourselves out of it," said the 46-year-old.

"I made a decision because I believed that my experience, work ethic, my loyalty and ability to work with players to reach the full potential will put us in good stead to be out of this situation.

"It is by no means an easy task and it is going to be massive task not only for me, but for everybody. Both the club and I believe in togetherness, unity, support - we are carrying a common goal to get the club out of this situation and with all that together, we will be able to do it."

Barker also refused to be drawn too much into the reasons for leaving Tuks, playing down talk of a contract dispute:

"Regarding my contract I don't want to elaborate too much on that. There was a contract in place and there were probably two clauses that were still part of discussions. So it was not a month-to-month contract and there was a contract in place."

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