Santos FC’s fall from grace more than a decade or so lingers on – not out of choice of course.
Many top coaches have come and gone with the hope to restore the People’s Team to its glory days but without any luck. That said, club owner Goolam Allie’s Santos still remains the only Cape Town side to have won a Premier League title back in 2002/’03.
Since then it has been a sad state of affairs. Despite this, the Thornton-based side still has the drawing power for some reason to attract top talent to the club as it has shown over the years.
And one individual in particular coach Jayrad Visagie is certainly showing that he has the potential to possibly take Santos to the promised land. It is pretty clear by now that ‘Jay’ is hungry for success following some astute acquisitions recently.
This also comes off the back of the departure of his predecessor coach Roger Fortune including some of the seasoned campaigners who left before him as well.
Visagie, who is currently assisted by the club’s Technical Director Ayoob Gester after the departure of his co-coach Siza Gola recently, strengthened his squad with players like the former PSL keeper Marlon Heugh who comes with a wealth of experience in the last line of defence.
Despite this, the 35-year-old young and ambitious Visagie who is in his fourth season with the club, is also not one who talks a big game but rather one that goes about his business silently and under the radar.
Just like with the surprise addition of the experienced goal poacher Ameen Awaldien who many did not see coming. Visagie on the other hand is confident that ‘Zlatan’ as Awaldien is called, will find his feet again after a rather disappointing spell with Hanover Park FC during his debut season in the second division.
“But he is definitely adding value and doing well, he needs a coach who believes in him,” Visagie explained to No Bones with Jones. ”And I do have that belief in him and he rewards me in matches for it.
”Then we also have some players who returned from Young Pirates like the centre back pairing of Shamiem Jonas and Ryan Cherry and then also holding midfielder Junaid Charles. Not forgetting the excellent midfielder Charlton April,” Visagie added.
Santos has had a solid start to the ABC Motsepe League campaign this season with four wins, one draw and a loss from their six matches thus far. They face a tricky fixture away to Infantry School tomorrow which will obviously require them to travel to Oudtshoorn and this brings along its own challenges.
According to Visagie, looking at the log at the stage is the last of their concerns as he is still seeking for the perfect balance for them.
“I need to find the best suited combinations and the necessary depth in these positions,” Visagie further explained. “The league I think is tougher this season with all the other added teams as you need to do a lot more travelling. So, there are a lot of things to keep in mind in order to make sure that I do what is best for the team,” Visagie added.
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