Bad blood in GU's camp
Rapula Okaile is a man under pressure to perform. A week ago the Gaborone United’s Chairperson and his team fired the entire technical team at the club consisting of technical director and stand-in coach Dragajlo Stanojlovic; goalkeeper coach Thabo Motang and assistant coach, Oris Radipotsane in favour of the European based Dutchman Maart Nooij and a Serbian physical trainer.
The duo was expected to be announced this week Monday in order to start drilling the team ahead of the second round of premier league campaign as well as to prepare for the CAF Confederations Cup which they will be playing next month against an opponent from Zanzibar.
But none of the European coaches has arrived. Now pressure is mounting with some GU supporters starting to question Okaile’s motive for dismissing the technical team without any backup plan. In fact, sources close to the events suggest that the European based duo will first have to surmount the immigration hurdles of acquiring Visas to enter the country since government has stopped issuing temporary permits.
Even if the Visas could be approved for the duo, it may still take some months for them to begin work as they still need to get work permits from labour department. Some supporters are said to be demanding hard-to-come answers from Okaile to show them the new technical team or justify the basis for his decision to fire an entire technical team.
Some feel that Drago, who was allegedly shown the door because results were not forthcoming, was unfairly treated. As for Motang, they say there is no one to fill the void he has left as a goalkeeper coach. And many had thought that Radipotsane would be elevated to the position of head coach or continue as assistant to Nooij, but that also did not happen.
Okaile’s signing of players during this transfer window without the input of the new technical team has again caused division among the supporters who wonder what will happen to the new signees if the new coach does not want them. Others are even questioning his authority to release players from the team without the input of any coach.
Efforts to engage Okaile on these issues hit a snag as he kept on postponing the interview. In the meantime, several names continue to be linked with transfers to Moyagoleele, among them former Green Lovers’ star Moatlhodi Ralesotla who attended the United’s training session on Monday.