Choosing Tinkler was a no-brainer, says SSU boss

Cape Town - SuperSport United CEO Stan Matthews said after a lengthy search process to find a suitable replacement for Stuart Baxter, Eric Tinkler was their best candidate.

Matthews stressed that they are working on their vision to build the team while assimilating the youth into the squad.

"In the end we decided to go on the youth orientation. We feel that there is so much recycling of coaches in the PSL without really any fresh ideas," said Matthews.

"You’re not taking things to another level, you’re not changing things. You’re getting a little bit of club A in club B. So we felt, if it was gonna be a local candidate, it needed to be someone who has a lot of potential.

"Someone who’s hungry, and who wants to learn and grow and also has energy - and Eric has all of those things in abundance.

"He has got off to quite a bright start as a coach if you think about the things he has done in a relatively short time."

Matthews said among other factors that informed their choice was looking for someone with a track record in continental competitions, as the team is part of the CAF Confederations Cup with ambitions to qualify for the CAF Champion’s League as well.

“In the midst of an exciting campaign, (CAF Confederations Cup), we all wanna try and win a silver star but beyond that we want to qualify for the Champion’s League,” said Matthews.

Tinkler, on the other side, said although he has not been given a specific mandate in his initial three-year contract with the club, he wants to win trophies and improve Supersport’s record of reaching cup finals.

"I am an ambitious coach and I want to achieve. My ambition is to win trophies," said Tinkler.

"SuperSport has been in seven finals over the past three years or so. I aim to achieve that, get to those finals and be a successful coach.

Mathews added that he sees great potential in Tinkler and ensures that the club will give him their full support.

“We see the spark and the potential in him and we’re going to try our best to support him and make sure he is successful here,” said Matthews.

Tinkler will start his SuperSport journey on July 1 as their head coach and will not be on the technical area in their Confederations Cup fixtures during July.

United are up against Horoya of Guinea and CF Mounana from Gabon - Kaitamo Tembo will be taking care of business as a caretaker coach.