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Pretoria - While uncertainty continues to surround Ajax Cape Town regarding the appointment of a new coach, interim boss Ian Taylor is happy to return to his role as an assistant once the club decides on a new man for the job.
The Urban Warriors have been without a head coach since Mushin Ertugral stepped down from the position last month, citing personal reasons.
“For me it will be great to learn from experienced international coaches and the local guy has experience,” Taylor said after his team’s 3-2 defeat to Mamelodi Sundowns in Pretoria on Saturday.
“Six months ago I was coaching under-19s. I have to be realistic, for me it’s part of my journey and I believe in timing. I’m a long-term thinker and I’ll look in two or three years’ time. Maybe in two years, it’s the job for me.”
Taylor has been in charge for the last four of Ajax’s fixtures and while the club has hinted that a new head coach could be appointed as early as Monday, Taylor would not be drawn on who was in line for the post.
“I can’t say too much. There’s one local and two foreigners in contention. For me, the head coach, when he does come in, it will give me a lot more responsibility as an assistant to take a lot more pressure off of him, having been there and seen what it’s about.”
Meanwhile, turning his attention to Saturday’s bizarre result, which saw referee Victor Gomes award five penalties over the 90 minutes, Taylor felt the game was killed by several dubious decisions.
“If you know football, you would see that half of those penalties weren’t penalties,” Taylor said.
“It’s a pity, because I think it would have been quite a good game. On our side, we didn’t create much, so the two penalties helped us to get back into the game."
Sundowns eventually edged the Cape side, scoring all three goals from set-pieces -- a corner, free-kick and a penalty -- which left Taylor deflated at his team’s lack of composure in dealing with the dead-ball situations.
“To play against Sundowns, who are such a good team with the ball, and you concede goals through a free-kick, a corner and a penalty… that’s poor concentration,” Taylor said.
“It’s almost amateur mistakes. You just don’t concede goals like that.”
With his time in charge of Ajax coming to an end, Taylor said he was delighted to have been offered the chance to lead his team.
He starts his stint as caretaker with a tricky encounter against Orlando Pirates in a league clash on Tuesday.
“It’s been brilliant, all of these tough games, a baptism of fire. But you can only learn from it and you can only get better and stronger from these challenges.”
