Saxon Rovers chairman Allan Roman has confirmed that they have scooped up Woodlands United FC’s most successful coach in Zahir Arendse.
No bones with Jones have been informed that “Zarrie” as he is commonly known has been inundated with offers from clubs in Safa Cape Town’s Third Division – and understandably so.
But it is the club from the Cape Town Tygerberg LFA, which pounced first to secure the services of the Gr. 6 teacher at Alpine Primary School in Mitchells Plain.
Roman confirmed that they have secured Arendse’s services for the 2023/’24 Third Division season.
“Yes, Zarrie will be joining us, in fact, he is with us already,” said Roman.
“He is with the LFA team at the moment, so he’ll just move to the RTD team, yes.
“He has a good track record, yes, and we are very excited to have him on board. He’s been a good coup for us, so we are looking forward to the new season with him as the head coach.”
Arendse’s credentials speak for itself. During his five-year tenure he led the Woody Boys to promotion in 2018 and won the Coke Cup a year later by humbling the firm favourite and multiple-winner Hanover Park. Not forgetting the Regional Nedbank Cup title they lifted in the very same year.
Subsequently, Covid struck and his Woodlands outfit started losing players. The team inevitably disintegrated and never recovered.
Saxons will definitely benefit big time from Arendse’s capture as they have found the going tough in their debut season in the Third Division of Safa Cape Town.
Saxons also had the worst start possible going through two coaches in the form of Bradley Valentine and the former pro player Omar Hendricks.
Hats off to their third coach, Shannon Atkins, who was thrown in at the deep end but managed to steer the Saxons’ ship to safety, finishing 12th out of 18 teams but most importantly retaining the club’s status.
Zarrie will surely be the perfect candidate – and will in the process also help Atkins gain more experience. Roman is well aware of this and has shown his loyalty to Atkins.
“We have been in discussions with him, and it hasn’t been confirmed yet, but we are chatting to Shannon to continue, but we are still in discussions,” Roman further added.
Zarrie highlighted that his decision to join Saxons is purely based on footballing reasons to assist him in growing as a coach as well.
“Let me make it very clear, for me it is not about the money,” Arendse stated.
“One of my conditions was that whichever club I would have joined should at least have their own facility or a proper field where we can train on, that’s it.”
“It was a battle last season with Woodlands to just get a training session going. You train in a park sometimes and there are no lights. Most times we never even trained but I had to make do with what was in front of me – it is also the reason why I decided not to go back.
“Another condition I had was that the club should also have their own players, as they can’t expect me to still bring players, you know. Clubs should also be fair to a coach. I mean, you bring the results, you get promotion and then they get all the glory.
“They won’t even offer you R10’s worth of petrol. These are the things we as coaches have to deal with in the lower structures, but I never complained as I had to remain focused on making sure I put out a team that can compete,” Arendse concluded.
