Garlandale FC chairman Yusuf Nacerodien’s desire is for his club to attain PSL status within the next five years.
Some will refer to this vision as over- ambitious and absurd – but in life anything is possible where there is a strong belief and desire.
But for now, they are prepared to start from the bottom with humble beginnings – upskilling their coaches and still putting out feelers to attract members that are keen to buy into the club’s long-term vision.
Garlandale, under the guidance of their new coach, the former Bafana Bafana player Bradley August has now put the ball in motion by tapping into their international connections.
No Bones with Jones can confirm that August, who was recently appointed as Garlandale’s new head coach, has found a way to lure the English Premier League (EPL) outfit, Nottingham Forest to his new club.
The Reds, as Forest is also referred to and is set to arrive today for a week-long outreach programme which will see them conducting coaching sessions in areas such Gugulethu, Nyanga, Khayelitsha. Mitchells Plain and Athlone.
August indicated that Forest will conduct a Q and A session for Garlandale’s coaches on Thursday (20 June) followed by a training session the following day (Friday) which starts at 09;00 and finishes at 12:00 at their home ground in Imam Haron Road, Lansdowne.
“We should thank Gary Cassisa, Sports agent and Director of Mede8 Sports as he is the main link in this initiative,” August pointed out.
“There will also be a session with the PSL players on Friday afternoon with the venue still to be confirmed. So, they will have a busy schedule but that’s their whole aim.” he added.
Meanwhile, Nacerodien conceded that Garlandale FC has found the going tough with the demands and expectations at the new Cape Town Tygerberg LFA (CTLFA).
Nacerodien migrated his club to the more fancied CTLFA following the drama with court cases and all at their previous Cape District Football Association where they have spent most of their time.
According to Nacerodien the politics was not conducive for the vision and plan he had in place for the Athlone-based club that has been around for 35 years.
“It’s tough (at CTLFA) but it’s good for us,” Nacerodien told No Bones with Jones. “It gives us a different view of how things are being done, the level of soccer is higher than CDFA. It forces you to step up. To give you an example… We did not have any assistant referees.
“We lost the knockout because of that we lost the points in a game where we won 4-1 – no linesman and we lost out. I lost it with the boys a bit and we got 10 guys that are qualified. We are putting things into place and need to get everybody to buy into the vision and work towards our five-year plan,” Nacerodien concluded.
Nacerodien is currently playing host for Reddam House from KZN who are in Cape Town as part of their annual holiday tour.
