Dan “Dance” Malesela, one of SA’s most experienced soccer coaches, has a reputation for being a “saviour”. This is because most of his coaching gigs have come midway through the season when teams realise that the ship is sinking and then they rush to him to save the team. Speaking to Sowetan, Maselela didn’t hide that he was happy to be starting the season with Baroka, aiming to guide them back to the Premiership from the National First Division.
Sowetan: This time around, you get to start the season with the team and have a preseason. How crucial is that to implement the way you want things to be done from the word go?
Malesela: I must be have a full preseason with the team. It’s never nice to join a team in the middle of the season, where there’s no time to implement your way of doing things. This time around, my players will understand from the beginning what I expect from them.
Sowetan: What’s the mandate from the management?
Malesela: The mandate is to gain promotion. This is a promotional league, so every team plays for promotion, nothing else.
Sowetan: What would it take for Baroka to gain promotion?
Malesela: Unity and a fighting spirit are some of the things I am trying to instil. The players must know the importance of playing for the team, not playing for individual accolades. We want to play as a team and that would see us achieve our targets.
Sowetan: You’ve lost two key players in Tshepo Mashiloane and Sydney Malivha to Orlando Pirates and Sekhukhune, respectively. How much of a blow was that?
Malesela: I don’t think we lost players, we released them and when you release players, you always know you can replace them, so we have replaced them.
Sowetan: The core of last season’s team is still there, surely that will help the team to have some sort of continuity?
Malesela: Yes, our squad is more or less the same as last season, so the foundation is there. It was important for us to maintain the core of the team.
Sowetan: This is your second spell at Baroka. When you left the club last time, things weren’t rosy between you and the management. Why did you return to the club?
Malesela: The structure at the club enticed me to come back. I have faith that with this team, something can happen and I have a good understanding with the chairman [Khurishi Mphahlele]. So, that’s why it was easy for me to come back [he returned to Baroka in March, having left amid an alleged fallout with Mphahlele].