DUTCHMAN PIETER IS NEW SIHLANGU COACH

MBABANE – A disgruntled soccer fan called the Times Sports Desk and posed a simple but intriguing question upon hearing that unknown Dutch coach Pieter de Jongh has been appointed Sihlangu coach.

This was about four hours after FA CEO Frederick Mngomezulu had made the announcement at Sigwaca House, where he dodged a barrel of probing questions from the media on the Dutchman’s appointment. The disgruntled soccer fan, who refused to identified, wanted to know how the 46-year-old De Jongh was better than his successor, Harris ‘Madze’ Bulunga.

How will the FA afford his salary? And what precedent were they setting regarding the salary of Sihlangu coach going forward? In short, the fan spelt doom for the national team under the Netherlands-born mentor and also pitied the coach for what he said was inevitable animosity he would have to endure from the hordes of Sihlangu supporters who the supporter said were still bitter at the decision not to renew Bulunga’s contract despite taking the team to the top 100 in the FIFA rankings.

The announcement brings to an end the close to six-month wait for Harries ‘Madze’ Bulunga’s successor. The latter’s contract expired in September 2016 after steering the national side to the top 100 in the world on top of a bronze medal in  the 2016 COSAFA Cup Senior Challenge.
De Jongh, who has coached mainly clubs at home in Netherlands, was shortlisted with five other hopefuls, that included Swaziland Football Coaches Association (SFCA) Chairman, Anthony Mdluli.
Even though Mngomezulu did not disclose the full list of candidates in the top six, it was reliably gathered that Mdluli had made the cut alongside unnamed coaches from Portugal, Ireland, and Serbia. 

Initially, the Serbian was said to be the favourite, but his net pay demand of E130 000 was found to be too high. De Jongh reportedly settled for a net pay of US$ 5000 (E69 500). The full budget for the national team technical bench is said to be E150 000 per month. Bulunga was allegedly paid E20 000 per month.

Mngomezulu was reluctant to disclose the finer details of deal, but said the coach was offered a contract of not less than a year.  He said his office looked for someone to also assist in development, so De Jongh’s experience as Technical Director in countries like Rwanda would come in handy.

“The full complement of the technical and/or management of the team will be implemented immediately after his arrival once the football association has concluded discussions with him.

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