TS Galaxy and Mabhuti Khenyeza are a match made in heaven and it only took 20 minutes for the union to happen according to both parties.Passion, desire, ambition, determination and trust are the major vows to this fitting marriage.
The coaching appointment of Mabhuti Khenyeza is arguably the biggest in South African football in the last five year. This appointment carries so much risks and at the same time it flows with excitement.
Not a lot of people working in the football media spaces or even the average football fanatics saw this coming, let alone Mabhuti Khenyeza getting his first head coach gig so soon.
During the unveiling on Tuesday 18 February Tim Sukazi spoke with conviction when introducing the new man at the helm. His confident that the former Lamontville Golden Arrows striker is the correct person to take the club to new heights.
"As young as he is, I do believe that South Africa is about to find out about his capabilities when I comes to football. I trust and believe that all of us, myself included, will embrace such a talent and we have to make sure that he thrives and succeeds from a coaching point of view. Personally I'm confident, Mabhuti has got the drive, his got the belief and his confident," said Sukazi
The man behind the rise of TS Galaxy beamed with pride when talking about the road Mabhuti took to get where he is in his coaching career.
"Many of you may not necessarily know that as a player he has been coaching, uMabhuti. He has been coaching in the ABC Mostsepe League and in his own youth development setup. He has been a good servant of the game. Sometimes he would leave for Maritzburg when was playing to coach his players and then travel back. Coaching is not new to him, many may say that 'its a new appointment, this is a new coach', yes, maybe on paper but this is a job his done for years now," added Sukazi.
The Roodeport based team is on the up in South Africa, their fanbase is ever growing, especially after their Nedbank Cup triumph last season. Khenyeza is not phased by the prospect of steering the ship of this young brand.
"It is the best thing for me, I want to thank the Chairman for the opportunity and I am very happy to be here. I know some of you will say 'he is still young', I'm young in age but the knowledge and understanding is older than me. I did not take this job to be paid at the end of the month, I took this job to plant a seed, to make these players better, to leave a legacy. I am not working for money, I am working for a legacy; something that you can never buy. At the end of the day I am here to win. You know me, my character allows that, I just want to win. There is no replacement for that, no excuse, I cry and I fight to win," said Khenyeza during his unveiling.
The man definitely backs himself, he surley promises to have that same hunger to win he had as a player. One thing that Khenyeza has in his favour boot is that he has not been mandated by the club, although the team his inheriting sits above the relegation zone.
"For a young coach like this, it would be silly for the stuff to set a mandate him, you must not do that. In football you want the coach to settle in an accommodative environment. Once you set a mandate in my view and of this club, you are destined to fail because people when they work they know about this mandate.If there is one sign that the mandate may not be achieved, then panic will set in, then everything gets derailed. We did not do it with our previous coach, we did not say 'you must win the Nedbank Cup', what coach Dan found here was an enabling environment. Mandate stories do not work here," said Sukazi
Coach Mabhuti carriers a lot of experience and having leanerd from many coaches including Mushin Ertugal. The two had a fallout at Kaizer Chiefs and then went on to mend their relationship and form a mentor mentee relations.
"I fought with Mushin before and people did not know what happened, I sat down and realised that what he said at the time was spot on. I went back to him and we worked together at Maritzburg. I still communicate with him. He has been sending massages to me all the time. His mentor, he is very happy I am here, he said if he was not far he would send red flowers to follow the colours of the team. He is happy, he pushed me to have the desire to be a coach. Something's I learnt from him. Now that his in the FIFA panel he always sends me stuff so I can be updated. I fought with him but now I'm benefitting,"said Khenyeza
The appointment of Mabhuti Khenyeza has the making of ushering in a new generation of coaches in South Africa. Those who were not given a chance to be coaches in a system that is hard to manoeuvre due a merry go around of coaches; now have hope. His tenure as TS Galaxy coach will be one for the record books, monumental moment for South African football. The legend of Khenyeza continues.
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