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Botswana: Khupe to the Rescue
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The Voice (Francistown)
11 March 2008
Posted to the web 11 March 2008
Francistown
Newly appointed Jwaneng Comets coach, Enerst Khupe, is confident he can take the struggling Mascom Premier League outfit out of the relegation zone.
Khupe started working with the mining town club, who are bottom of the log with 12 points, last week on Tuesday and will lead them against fellow relegation candidates BMC tomorrow.
"Comets are a good team with good players and if we work together we can survive the axe. For us to succeed in our mission, management, the players, supporters and the coach have to work together. I am not in any way suggesting that this has not been happening but I think we can improve things for the better," the Zimbabwean mentor said, adding that the players "are responding well to my training and I am also enjoying working with them. This is what gives me the confidence we can be part of the Premier League next season."
Khupe, who during the 2004/5 season rescued this season's league leaders and likely champions Mochudi Centre Chiefs from the axe, is aware that he has a difficult job ahead of him but remains optimistic of his charges' chances of survival.
"We need to collect at least 23 points from the remaining games and hope that the other clubs in the relegation zone lose points. We still have to play some of the sides and my intention is that we beat them. We have to if we want to stay in the top league," Khupe said.
Among the teams in the relegation zone that Jwaneng Comets have to play are Nico United, Gunners and BMC.
Khupe, who has also worked as coach at Tafic and Police XI, is not worried that his rescue mission starts with an away fixture to fellow strugglers BMC in Lobatse.
"I think playing away will motivate the boys to steal the three points from BMC. Sometimes when paying at home players tend to get lax because the presence of their supporters and the so-called home ground advantage give them a false sense of security. Playing away makes the players work harder than usual and this will work for us."
Quizzed on how long he will be at Comets, the nomadic Khupe responded, "We have not signed a contract yet. We have just agreed that I work with the team until the end of the season. We will then take things from there."
On Tuesday, Comets communications manager Kealeboga Ramogobya confirmed that the club had engaged Khupe and trust he can help them dodge the looming axe.
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"Khupe is working with the team and we believe he can help the team stay in the premier league. When we spoke to him about the job what he told us made us have faith in him. He has not signed a contract with us yet but we have given him a copy of our proposed contract to look at while we continue our negotiations with him."
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