Online Reporter
Blessing Malinganiza, Zimpapers Sports Hub
JOEL Luphahla walked into Mandava last week with the energy of a man who knows what he wants and how he intends to build it. Fresh from his appointment as FC Platinum’s new coach, he gathered the squad almost immediately, ran sessions through the week and spent long hours getting a feel for the group he is now trusted to lead. He said he needed that early contact because a team that has heard one voice for 10 years doesn’t switch overnight.
He replaces Norman Mapeza, the longest serving coach in the modern PSL and arrives on the back of a strong run with Simba Bhora, where he guided them to third place in the league. This is only his second job as a top-flight head coach, yet he already looks at home.
“I’m happy that I’m here and I’m sure you also saw that when we came in, we had to have sort of a training session or assessment for three days, last week.
“Some people will think it was some trials of sorts, but we felt that we were coming into a new institute that the boys had gotten used to.
“There was a voice for 10 years. And obviously, we feel that we will need more time for these boys to understand us. We will need more time for the team to understand that there’s now a change.
“So, we felt that if the boys went on holiday off-season without us meeting, it was going to be a tall order come January.
“So that is why we asked the boys to stay behind a little bit so that we can have the training sessions. Also, they can get to understand our voice, get to know how we want things done. You know, basically it’s a, uh, a meet and train sort of a situation with the approach.
“And I’m sure that the boys are happy. We didn’t want them to go on holiday, you know, with a lot of worries.”
He said the first week was as much about setting tone as it was about fitness or drills.
“Our aim was to make sure that we outline ourselves. We will let these boys know who we are.
“We introduce ourselves, our new philosophy, our new style and I’m happy with what I saw.
“As you can see, we’re still here with the young boys. There’s massive, massive talent that we are seeing here.
“There is a lot of work that will be done, but we are up for it. And we are happy that all these things that are happening, we have done them. Because it will make it easier for us when we come back. Now, we know what we’re supposed to do.”
He spoke warmly about Mapeza, who has moved to Scottland and the standards he kept at the club.
“We are going to just get into a moving vehicle. And we are also happy and give credit to the departing coach, Norman Mapeza, he’s leaving a healthy team. We are grateful for that.
“We are not walking into a team that doesn’t have quality. The quality is there. These boys are multi, multi-talented.
“So, we’re happy that we are coming into a healthy institute. Yeah, I’m happy.”
Luphahla’s ideas lean heavily toward youth development. He built his reputation on it, and he made clear that it would guide his work at Mandava.
“If you know my coaching history, I’m one coach who’s always worked with these young boys. I also had an academy a long time ago that produced a lot of good, good players who are now playing.
“Some are playing in the national team. So, these are the things that I want to see. These are the developments that I want to get involved with. And I’m happy. I’ve seen the under-15s, our under-15s here.
“Good, good talent, massive talent. The under-17s and the under-19s as well. So, I’m hands-on. I’m going to be hands-on and make sure that we transform these young boys.
“We want to give them hope. We want to promote as many as we can. We want to make sure that these boys know that there is light at the end of the tunnel. So, if you have these developmental sides, we shouldn’t be hiring a lot of players out there.
“We want to try and correct that and make sure that when we are going to bring somebody, we are bringing quality.
“But we want to try and make sure that we develop the quality from within, so that we give every boy from Zvishavane that dream, that chance that they can make it in football,” he said.
