17 Jan 2017

Following the resignation of head coach, Mark Harrison for greener pastures at Baroka FC in South Africa, BTC Premiership title contenders Township Rollers have elevated Mogomotsi “Teenage” Mpote to the position of head coach with immediate effect until the end of the season.

In an interview, Township Rollers mouth piece, Phempheretlhe Pheto said Mpote would be assisted by Thabo Motang who also doubles as the club’s goalkeeper coach.

He said they took the decision looking at the time Mpote had been with Rollers as an assistant coach.

“Initially we placed adverts in newspapers for the position of the head coach, but then decided against it because hiring a completely new coach at this stage of the season would have been a gamble. We then decided on Mpote because he has been our assistant coach for about three seasons, first under Madinda Ndlovu then Harrison,” he said.

Pheto said a completely new coach would have been a gamble in the sense that new coaches normally come with their own philosophies and strategies, but that at this stage of the season there was no time to learn new strategies, and therefore felt that hiring Mpote would be a continuity as he had been working with the departed coach.

Pheto also said that the other reason they pulled off the advert was that they needed a coach urgently while the process of hiring through advertising would have taken a longer time. He said they would only decide on hiring a new coach beginning of next season.

Township Rollers will next month venture into the CAF Champions League competitions and Rollers are faced with the question of how to participate in the competitios with Mpote at the helm .

“Mpote does not have CAF A licence as he only holds CAF B licence,” he said. “We have written to CAF through the Botswana Football Association last week explaining our situation and we are still awaiting a response,” he said.

Pheto said they expect CAF to give them guidance on the way forward as they had already submitted the name of Harrison as the head coach, while that of Mpote was submitted as the assistant.

“Although we have to admit that the situation is a bit tricky, we are keeping our fingers crossed that CAF will allow us to use Mpote as a head coach because he was still going to sit on the bench anyway,” he said.

Rollers will face Malagasy side Caisse Nationale de Prevoyance Sociale (CNaPS) in the first leg away on February 12.

Meanwhile Rollers have been dealt a blow as they will venture into the CAF competition without the services of two of their most experienced players in goalkeeper, Kabelo Dambe who is carrying a shoulder injury and Galabgwe Moyana who tore his knee during the Zebras game against Uganda. Both players are expected to be out for atleast three months as they await the surgeon’s knife. BOPA