Cape Town Spurs head coach Shaun Bartlett shows no signs of panicking despite having lost the first five DStv Premiership matches since being promoted.
The former Bafana Bafana forward guided Spurs to the elite league via the promotional play-offs after a five-year absences but Bartlett’s side did not start the season well after losing all five matches and scoring only two goals.
On Tuesday, the club released a motion of support for Bartlett after rumours about potential replacements started to swirl.
Bartlett himself showed no signs of panicking when he was asked about his future after the 3-1 defeat to Moroka Swallows.
“Of course, as a coach, you want to be successful and it’s not the best start to the Premiership in a career and obviously for the club as well,” he told journalists.
“Whether we want to make excuses and or use that as an excuse that the turnaround time between the play-offs and obviously the start of the season was not the best.
“So the pre-season, obviously, we had to make the best of it and the players even that we’re utilising at this current moment, I think it’s more than 75% of what we had last season.
“I said to them also I think some has an increased the level to where we play, and something they can play in the in the Premiership. So it’s a rude awakening for everybody involved.”
The Urban Warriors haven’t spent much on the transfer market, having only got Keagan Buchanan as a free-agent and a few players on loan, while retaining most of the players from the team that gained promotion.
“Yeah, it’s always gonna be an issue. I think even what we achieved last season was an absolute a miracle, absolute miracle, as far as obviously getting promotion to the DStv Premiership,” he added.
“But at the end of the day, I think we also recognise that when you first season in the Premiership, we can’t just go crazy and spend millions and millions. That can backfire on you.
“So gotta be a little bit cautious. But also we’ve got to recognise not at the detriment of obviously losing the status of the Premiership.
“Maybe it was taken out of context. But I think best position is 14th place. So we can stay another season in the DStv Premiership and then obviously, get players in that might be used to this level.
“I would say, you know, we kept most of the players, not because of loyalty of last season and success, but in a day I think you can also see some players maybe not where are they supposed to be in order to compete at this level.
“The spending, there’s not many clubs in this country that can go and spend to dance. Cubs don’t have title sponsors and don’t have the financial backing. Then you got to make do with getting loans and using developing players obviously, to make the best.”
