Mikia Kalati
Premier League giants, Lioli, have appointed former Bloemfontein Celtic assistant coach, Morena Ramorebodi, as their new coach on a six month contract.
Ramorebodi is remembered for his time with Maluti FET College when they knocked out South African giants Orlando Pirates in the Nedbank Cup.
He takes over from Motebang Makhetha who has been in charge since the club parted ways with Halemakale Mahlaha late last year.
Addressing a press briefing in Maseru on Wednesday, Lioli president, Lebohang Thotanyana, said they brought in the Free State-born coach to bring back the glory days after they lost the league title to Bantu last season. Bantu are currently top of the Econet Premier League log standings.
“We made a vow as the management of Lioli to beef up our squad to get results that we desire,” Thotanyana said, adding, “One of those departments that we had challenges with is the technical department where our head coach resigned after the Top 4 Independence Cup”.
“We accepted his resignation and put our assistant coach, Ntate Makhetha, to take over as the interim coach until January.
“So we met with Ntate Makhetha and agreed that it would be wise to get a new coach to work with him. We then drew a list until we settled on Ntate Morena Ramorebodi.”
The Lioli boss said they decided on Ramoreboli on the basis of his experience.
“We felt that he was the right candidate to bring success to our team.
“Ntate Ramoreboli is the former assistant coach at Bloemfontein Celtic and he also coached at African Warriors and helped them win promotion to the South African National First Division.
“He also coached at Maluti FET where he became very popular for beating some of the big teams in South Africa. That experience in big games and knowledge of assembling a team convinced us that he is the right man for the job.”
Ramorebodi is a holder of CAF A and B licence coaching badges.
Thotanyana said they had also agreed with Ramorebodi about the need to reinforce the squad with new players.
For his part, Ramorebodi said he came to Lesotho for various reasons including the desire to grow as a coach, to share his expertise as well as the fact that his family’s roots were in the Mountain Kingdom.
“I came because there are a lot of Ramorebodis in Lesotho so I also have my roots here. I also obtained one of my coaching badges in this country.
“The other important thing is that it is not the first time that Lioli approached me and I could have come a long time ago but it is just that at that time I had other offers.
“I was also looking to start afresh and get a team which I can take somewhere. Lioli is a team that has a vision that I could work for,” Ramorebodi said.
Tse Nala have also roped in former Bantu Public Relations Officer Motlatsi Mofokeng to their public relations and marketing department.
