Administer soccer like a real business

Township amateur soccer would have been so much poorer without “Prezza”. To the uninitiated, “Prezza” is a colloquial for Club President. Hierarchically, a Club President slots (in) high up in an administrative model found in Europe, mainly Spain. This model was copied and pasted locally.

But unlike his counterparts at teams like Real Madrid and Barcelona, your typical Prezza is not always an affluent businessman who is in football just because he prefers people (soccer players) to thoroughbred horses. On the other hand a Prezza is driven by a sense of civic duty — a duty to keep local boys out of mischief and to give them a decent shot at life.

He forms a football club. The community embraces it. Local boys staff the teams, normally up to at least five age group divisions. He runs the club out of his meagre income i.e. he buys kit, he finances travelling for away games, he buys boots for the promising players. When a professional side comes knocking for his better players they are not obliged to pay him — at best, the Prezza will be gifted/paid with a new kit and life goes on. He coaches the teams, acts as a mascot, he counsels the distressed and disciplines the wayward urchins. His wife becomes a ‘kit manager’ who ensures that all kit is clean for the next weekend and his family suffers because their house becomes the ‘clubhouse’. The club becomes his family, he recruits and gets rid of personnel willy-nilly.

The Prezza is the alpha and omega of this establishment.

Prezzas were a godsend for grassroots soccer and maybe they were fated to run a one-man shows at their teams. In a professional set up, however, where soccer is big business that competes globally, there should be no room for this administrative model. Sadly, the Prezza mentality is rife in our professional soccer.

A typical, but not exclusive example is Jomo Sono at Cosmos. Jomo was a wizard in his playing days but how on earth does he own, scout, market and coach a team all by himself? It all goes against orthodox management science. This could be why his club attracts only a handful spectators, minimal sponsorship and an occasional dip to the lower league.

Irvin Khoza’s pedigree as an administrator is unquestionable. But the “Iron Duke” wields too much power at Orlando Pirates. He imposes players on coaches. (Not surprising that Bucs goes through two coaches per season, on average.) On many occasions when the media asks the club’s spokesperson for comment on even mundane stuff like players’ discipline, they are told to await Khoza’s availability. Some newspapers that are obviously not in the Iron Duke’s good books were recently not invited to a press brief to announce Pirates’ new coach. That may serve Khoza’s agenda but it can’t be good for the club.

Patrice Motsepe is also learning fast. Coaches at Sundowns are constantly looking over their shoulders because Motsepe is always ready to fire and hire. As a successful businessman he should know that the high technical staff turnover is not good for the club’s long-term success. Motsepe is also reputed to barge into the change room when chips are down at half time. I doubt if he uses the same tactics at his other businesses.

Jose Mourinho’s retort when asked about Roman Abramovich’s interference in his coaching job at Chelsea rings true: “If he were to do my job, the club would be relegated. If I were to do his job, he would be bankrupt.”

If I may add; what happens when these Prezzas go the way of all flesh? Do their clubs die with them?