Almost everything needed to welcome champions was there when Orlando Pirates touched down at OR Tambo airport from Tunisia.
|||Almost everything needed to welcome champions was there when Orlando Pirates touched down at OR Tambo airport from Tunisia yesterday morning.
There was a stage to parade the ‘champions’ which sat high, overlooking the fans. That stage was also used for speeches from dignitaries, whether it was Safa chief executive Dennis Mumble or representatives from the Sport and Recreation ministry, to the Gauteng Government and sponsors. They all spoke about how the team made the country proud with Vodacom giving them special medals for their ‘achievement’.
Former Pirates PRO - now Sport and Recreation spokesperson - Mickey Modisane, went a step further and pledged that the ministry would give R30 000 to each of the 25 Pirates’ players registered for the CAF Confederation Cup. The Sport and Recreation Minister, Fikile Mbalula, quickly rebuked Modisane on Twitter saying he made no such promise.
In all that fanfare there was one thing, you might even say important thing, missing.
The champions weren’t there. Pirates only returned with a silver medal after losing to Etoile du Sahel in the final. They fought gallantly in the tournament to defeat Egyptian giants Al-Ahly and scored the most goals, earning respect from the continent but they once again finished empty-handed, something coach Eric Tinkler said would define if they had a good run or not.
The players returned dejected with Tinkler in a fiery mood. He first addressed the reported bust-up he had with Rooi Mahamutsa, which he described as a ‘rubbish story’ and a ‘lie’. The mentor went on to address the misconstrued words of Maritzburg United chairman Farook Kadodia, who said he wouldn’t mind having Tinkler lead the side, after parting ways with Clive Barker. But that’s if Tinkler is available. That was interpreted as Tinkler heading to the KwaZulu-Natal capital, fuelled by perceptions that he has stayed this long at the helm of Pirates because of the club’s good run in the continent.
‘There is no link between me and Maritzburg. I will never quit. I have never been a quitter in my life. I am currently the head coach of Orlando Pirates and that’s where I remain,’ Tinkler said. ‘It’s normal (that people would speculate). That’s something that I have seen at this club. You lose one game at a big club and immediately people say that the coach should be sacked. That’s the norm. It’s difficult to handle it.’
The mentor admitted that waking up on Monday morning in Sousse after losing the final was difficult to handle. The players were taken to the beach, to have some fun and take their minds off the disappointment. After that they took the long flight to Johannesburg from Tunis via Dubai. They will rest before resuming their domestic league campaign with a clash against Mamelodi Sundowns on December 20.
‘To a degree it makes the pain even more hard that this was our second continental cup final loss,’Tinkler said.
‘But there were a lot of positives to take from our performance in the tournament. There were some new players who got opportunities and did extremely well. Menzi Masuku and Gift Motupa grew. I am happy for both of them. The team will only grow and get better from this.’ - The Star
