adminEPHRAIM “Shakes” Mashaba has broken his silence over talk that he was the cheapest option when appointed head coach of the senior national team in July.According to Safa president Danny Jordaan, there were 16 applicants for the job including Mashaba, Carlos Quieroz, Roberto Carlos, Ruud Krol, Patrick Kluivert, Fabio Cannavaro and Stephen Keshi. And Jordaan insisted that Safa didn’t consider a salary package when choosing the coach.
And Mashaba got really hot under the collar when finally deciding to comment on the matter today, just over a month after taking over as Bafana Bafana coach.
“Two days after my appointment, there was so much horrible (things written). This one really made me feel insulted, that I was the cheapest coach… I’m the cheapest coach,” he says.
“All the expensive coaches (who coached Bafana), give me their records. Give me all the expensive coaches’ records, put it here. I’m repeating it for the last time — give me the records of all the expensive coaches and let’s put it here (and) go through it.
“Our football is down because of those expensive coaches. There will be times when we appreciate things and there will be time when we joke about things.
“This one I couldn’t leave it … the cheapest coach when I’m the longest serving coach in football, club level or national. I’m the longest serving coach and people haven’t realised that this is what this man is doing,” Mashaba retorts.
Furthermore, Mashaba appealed to critics to do so based on facts when criticising and provide solutions.
“With the new (Safa) executive committee since they came in, our junior teams are always participating. It started with the U-17s provincial tournaments and went on to the U-19s. From that, we selected the U-17 team to go play in a tournament and they came back in position three.
“We have the U-17s as the champions of (Africa) Zone 6 and we have the U-20 team as the current champions of the Cosafa Cup. We have our U-20 qualifying for the AYC (African Youth Championships).
“Our women’s team (Banyana Banyana) has qualified and our U-17s are on the verge of qualifying for 2015 African Youth Championships. Don’t you think the gods of football are smiling on us? For a change, why don’t we rejoice that?
“Now I will be happy if people criticise, come with solutions please. Come with solutions. We accept criticism, but come with solutions. If you keep criticising, you are killing our momentum.
“Now, I buy newspapers every day, even Beeld. Why? I want to hear your critics and let me tell you, they make me strong. That’s why I’m going on and on and on. If you are criticising and think you are breaking me down, you are wasting time. I’m taking that and converting it into positives. We are going on, we are marching on.
“Some of the critics we read about in newspapers are uncalled for. They are very much uncalled for and they seem to be personal, but I like them. One day I will give those authors a hug and say you helped me, you made me strong in my life. Criticise, but have facts when you criticise,” Mashaba adds. — KICKOFF.
Online Reporter