Black Leopards general manager Tshifiwe Thidiela has elaborated fully on the work schedule of Serbian tactician Kosta Papic.
The veteran gaffer resigned from Accra Hearts of Oak last week and within 24 hours, he signed for South African ABSA Premier League side Black Leopards.
Initial reports were that he was taken up the position as a technical manager but the administrative head of the club has emphasized that the job also includes that of a head coach of the club and seeing to all the other age groups.
“It’s just that people don’t listen, I made it clear that Papic is a technical manager,” Thidiela tells KickOff.com.
“I explained that the definition of management is to lead, organise, plan and control. Papic will definitely sit on the bench. Papic will be involved in the making of the line-up. Papic will go to all the training sessions.
“The only difference and the reason I labeled him as a technical manager is because he’s not only going to focus on the first team, he’s going to be responsible for all the teams from as young as our under-6, and all the coaches will be reporting to him.
“Because we want the team to have the same identity and specific style of play from the under-6 up to the first team. I said to people I don’t want us to view the technical manager role as a title because when you go to the EPL, there’s nowhere they use the title ‘head coach’…
Thidiela added: “To not confuse anyone with terms, I decided to explain what his role and what his job is going to be. So it can’t be something new because I even explained that [Mongezi] Bobe, [Morgan] Shivambu and Seema are young coaches… Seema has only coached two teams. They are young coaches.
“The reason Papic came here is because they are going to learn from him, he is the one who is going to be in charge, they are going to report to him, they are going to work with him and learn because we want them to lead this club in the future.
“That was my exact words and explanation… I don’t know what’s new there. Every time a technical manager is appointed people assume it’s because you want to remove somebody from his position… no! Nobody is going to be moved from anywhere.
“These young men, they are coming to learn, they were even sitting there saying, ‘Yes, we are going to learn.’ I even explained the definition of management is to lead, plan and control. Anything technical is planned by him. Where is the confusion there?”
Papic previously handled Black Leopards during the 2013/2014 season and has also coached other South African clubs including Orlando Pirates, Kaizer Chiefs, Maritzburg United, Chippa United, Polokwane City and others.
