Moorosi Tsiane
SWALLOWS supporters were left with egg in their faces last Wednesday when Matlama announced Molebatsi Mothobi as their assistant coach, just two days after his unveiling as the Mazenod outfit’s head coach.
I was also left surprised by the developments as it was later announced that Mothobi handed his resignation to Swallows just a day after signing his contract because Matlama had offered him a job.
Mothobi had signed a one-year contract with Swallows on Monday before resigning on Tuesday to sign a two-year contract with Matlama.
While every coach will want to coach at Matlama, I believe Molebatsi went a bit too far because it is apparent that when he signed for Swallows, he was already negotiating with Matlama.
Any coach would jump at such an opportunity and as an upcoming coach with an impressive profile, he is bound to benefit but the approach was wrong.
The best that Molebatsi could have done was to stall Swallows negotiations if he knew that he preferred Matlama over Swallows. That way, he would not have tainted his relations with Swallows. His dignity would have remained intact.
Mothobi started his coaching career at Serutle United and helped the team earn C Division promotion in the late 90s. In 2008/09 he coached Manamela Young Stars FC and he led the team from B to A Division.
In the 2015/16 season, he was the assistant coach at Sky Battalion under Kananelo Moletsane before being promoted to head coach when Moletsane left. The following season, he was also appointed assistant coach to new coach Thabile Secker.
He joined Sefotha-fotha in the 2017/18 season to assist Tiisetso Molete and also worked under coach Bafokeng Mohapi in the 2018/19 season. Last season he was promoted to head coach at Sefotha-fotha before resigning last season.
When he left Sefotha-fotha, it was also unclear how the relationship ended as he claimed to have resigned while the team said it had fired him.
Surely, Mothibi wouldn’t want to be known as a coach who is always causing drama with teams.
I wish him best of luck in his new appointment and I hope he will become a better coach than he already is.
