Ex-Pirates star Segolela clarifies role at Platinum City

It initially appeared as though former Orlando Pirates attacker Tlou Segolela was the head coach of newly promoted GladAfrica Championship side Platinum City Rovers, but he has since clarified his role in the North West-based side.

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The side, established in 2010, won promotion to the second-tier league last week when they finished as runners-up in the ABC Mostepe League national playoffs.

Segolela has been part of the team since it was founded and says his duty is to run the day-to-day operations as the team manager – he also works closely with head coach Tesco Macheke. He went as far as comparing his role to that of Kaizer Chiefs founder and chairman Kaizer Motaung, who in the early days of the club simultaneously served under multiple caps.   

“I am very much involved in the game and my role is not really comparable to any, it is unique at the moment, maybe you would need to go back to Kaizer Motaung’s time and draw similarities. I work with the coaches. I am dealing with the operation of the team and I am focused on instilling the culture of the team,” Segolela told Phakaaathi.

He went on to praise his team, commending them for making it into the GladAfrica Championship just after a decade of existence.

“It has been a long journey for us, the team was founded in 2010 and finally in 2021 we have managed to gain promotion to the GladAfrica Championship, which is the second phase of our project,” he said.

“At this time I won’t say we are entirely satisfied with it, we will be satisfied with it when we are in the bigger league. This is a baby that has been born and we need to nurture it. We are very happy for the people of North West that they finally have a team that is their own,” “Sox” added.

He vows to stay true to the ultimate goal of reaching the top-flight of South African football, but does not underestimate the toughness of the second division.

“To do it the first time is easy but to maintain it is difficult, but if you manage to do that, it is just the key for going in our team,” he said.

The former Pirates star added: “Our strategy is to take things step by step and even now we are going to continue with that strategy of each game at a time and if we can achieve to advance to the DStv Premiership in the following season it would be a great achievement.”