Pirates technical staff helping Riveiro to adapt at Bucs

New Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro has revealed that the warm welcome he received from the club and the technical staff has helped him to know more about the culture of the Buccaneers.

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The Spain born coach has been given the task to lead Pirates in the 2022/23 DStv Premiership season, after the club finished last season under the guidance of co-coaches Mandla Ncikazi and Fadlu Davids, who has since left the club.

Ncikazi has remained as part of the Riveiro’s Pirates’ technical team as an assistant coach. The coaching team also comprises of Riviero’s country-man Sergio Almenara who comes in as an assistant coach, goalkeeper coach Tyron Damons, conditioning coach Miguel Bellver Esteve, who is also from Spain, assistant conditioning coach Percy Moloi, rehabilitation specialist Stephen Plummer and performance analyst Rayaan Jacobs.

“I found a lot of people in the club who are willing to help me, I found a fantastic group in the coaching staff, very good professionals and human beings. The technical staff has been close to me during this period, we also had a chance to spend some time in training camps and those days were profitable in terms of adaptation and understanding the football culture better,” said Riveiro.

Riveiro also touched on the new captaincy at Pirates, with Innocent Maela having been picked as the skipper, while goalkeeper Richard comes in as vice captain.

“Pirates as a club has a clear criteria about what kind captain we need. We also participate in the process as a coaching staff and more specifically the players too. We are sure that Innocent and Richard will represent Pirates values really well. They will for sure be a very good example of those values and every time they have to go with that armband in our matches. I am sure that everybody will feel proud of our captaincy decision.”