Greenwood Athletic ‘new’ coach Lionel Miller has opened upon his return to the club.
The experienced Miller conceded he was pleasantly surprised when he received a call to ask about his availability to return to the club.
“I was surprised, yes, because Warren Lotters is a friend of mine and we played football together,” Miller told No Bones with Jones. “It is not always good to see your buddies struggling, you know. I don’t know if it was the players who did not relate to him – because we have the players, that I can tell you.
“It’s also not that they were playing very badly, it’s just that they weren’t picking up the points. They weren’t scoring goals and on the other hand, they were leaking in goals. I don’t know…I will just have to come in and work on one or two things. I was watching from a distance and it wasn’t like we need another 11 or 18 guys for the squad, some boys can, I think they just did not relate lekka to Warren, you know,” Miller added.
Miller’s comments follow the departure of his predecessor Warren Lotters who has found the going rather tough in the Hollywoodbets Third Division.
Greenwood is currently languishing in the second last position on eight points after they could only muster one win from 11 matches. Needless to say, the Retreat-based outfit is a mere shadow of themselves, hence Miller was roped in to steady the ship.
This is also not the first time Miller is summoned to help save the Green Machine as Greenwood is affectionately known. A couple of seasons ago he took over from Bradley Barnes and did very well transforming the team into a competitive unit.
Expectations are that ‘Pony’, as Miller is known, will recreate his magic and turn the Solo Street astroturf, also known as “Spoek se land” back into a burial ground for visiting teams – as he did in the past.
Miller emphasized that there is still a long way to go with three-quarters of the season still left hence there is no need “for panic.”
Miller’s first test is tomorrow when they host Jomos Power at the ‘graveyard’ and he insists that they have to get a positive result.
“Yes, we are in a bad position and something we are not used to at Greenwood, but I’m sure the guys can pick themselves up and carry on one game at a time,” Miller added. “There are 20 odd games left in the league, so there is no need to panic as yet,” Miller concluded.
