Scott Chickelday, the England-based striker coach who recently departed
from Orlando Pirates after just five weeks, has opened up about his stay
at the Soweto giants and has given his support to Pirates forward
Monnapule Saleng to win the Player of the Season award.
In an interview on SAFM Sport, Chickelday praised the quality levels of
the PSL, noting that the players are technically at a high level, but lack
tactical awareness and game understanding, which could be due to lack of
proper development from grassroots level.
The 48-year old coach was full of praise for Saleng, saying he would be
surprised if he did not win the Player of the Season award. He noted that
the forward has explosive pace, is rapid, brave, confident to shoot from
anywhere, and has the hunger and desire.
“I loved watching him and he was a pleasure to work with and like I said,
I’d be very surprised if he never got Player of the Season this year,”
Chickelday said.
The former Tottenham Hotspur coach also stressed that South African
football has to pay more attention to grassroots football for players to
be fully developed once they reach the PSL level.
