It is going to be make-or-break in the coming weeks for Richards Bay co-coach Vasili Manousakis.
The former Cape Town City assistant coach will see his deal with Bay expire at the end of the season.
Manousakis signed a season-long deal with Bay and it is not clear whether the contract has an option to renew, leaving the coach to anxiously wait to know what the club is going to react to.
At first, Manousakis was appointed as technical advisor when the club announced new players during the off season.
When the season was about to start, Manousakis saw his role lifted, with Bay chairman Sifiso Biyela giving him a co-coach role to work with Pitso Dladla, who helped the club gain promotion from the Motsepe Foundation Championship last term.
Dladla, when Manousakis was appointed, said he had no issues of sharing the coaching role, saying he’s new at this level and the former AmaZulu assistant has more than five years of experience in coaching, including guiding AmaZulu to second spot in the 2020/21 season and helping City win the MTN8 in the 2018/19 – all under coach Benni McCarthy.
Manousakis has delivered for Bay, making them difficult to break down, with only three losses in their debut campaign. They are second on the DStv Premiership log with 31 points after 18 matches played.
This is something Manousakis, even his chairman and players, never imagined at this stage of the season and would have gladly taken without blinking.
Surprisingly, the club has been sitting second on the table for the duration of the season behind all conquering Mamelodi Sundowns, and Manousakis has said it is pre-mature for them to be expected to do what Leicester City did in the English Premier League with this squad.
However, Bay have not lost to a team from KwaZulu-Natal, beating Golden Arrows, Royal AM and AmaZulu respectively. They drew with AmaZulu this past weekend and also with Maritzburg United in the first leg, who they will play away in the second round.
The club’s losses have only come against the so-called big teams – Kaizer Chiefs, SuperSport and Sundowns, who they face yet again in the Nedbank Cup last 32 next month, just like it was last season.
“This is good for the team, good for the fans, it’s good for the club, for the chairman,” said Manousakis of having not lost to a team from KZN so far.
“Myself, I try not to look into those things because you get caught up in the emotional stats rather than focus on the real meat of the issues and the challenges.
“But certainly I think it’s a good record and we are really grateful that we fought back, that we got a point out of the game. We want more, but it wasn’t to be. If that is the record against the KZN teams, long may it continue.”
Bay, who have not won in their last two matches, next visit Swallows at Dobsonville Stadium today.
