Magesi’s Freese appointment based on connections

YOU have to understand the direction Magesi are taking.

- MIHLALI BALEKA

It has worked before. But from where I’m standing, the script and the cast have changed — which means the outcome won't be the same. Unfortunately.The club hired Allan Freese as their coach this week, replacing John Maduka. It was a bizarre appointment, if you ask me — though clearly not in the eyes of the club’s decision-makers.

Apart from serving as Rulani Mokwena’s assistant at Wydad Casablanca for much of last season, Freese had largely faded from the face of South African football, coaching in the lower divisions.

Mokwena said the decision was motivated by the belief that Freese “brings a club pedigree” and success. That isn’t far from the truth. He succeeded at the now-defunct Platinum Stars, both as an assistant coach and later as a head coach.

He won trophies. I remember his team beating Orlando Pirates in back-to-back finals in the MTN8 and the Telkom Knockout (now known as the Carling Knockout). He had earlier lifted the Telkom Knockout with Silver Stars while serving as Owen Da Gama’s right-hand man, guiding a squad brimming with youthful energy and hunger.