Following his appointment as head coach of Black Leopards last Monday (3rd), Mr Alejandro Dorado Rodriguez is already hard at work. During an interview, the 38-year-old Spanish national said that they had been conducting trials last week, and he was impressed with the abundance of talented players in the province.
Rodriguez mentioned that selecting the best players from the group that had showed up for the trials was difficult as most of the players trying their luck were highly talented. The players who were finally selected joined the rest of the team at the training session on Monday morning. Black Leopards are currently using the Ladanna open grounds in Polokwane for their training sessions.
When asked about his short- and long-term goals, Rodriguez was quick to mention that every coach's target was to see his team promoted to the higher division at the end of the season. He was realistic about the fact that the coach's performance was measured by the team's results.
Some of his short-term goals include assembling the best squad before the league programme of the new season starts towards the end of next month. The former FC Honka assistant coach said that assembling a formidable squad now would make things easier for the team to gain promotion to the DStv Premiership Division at the end of next season. He was confident that his work permit would be ready before the first league match of the new season.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the club, Mr Tshifhiwa Thidiela, has revealed that the team will continue to use Polokwane's Ladanna Grounds for training purposes until further notice. The provisional plans are for the team to use Malamulele and Thohoyandou Stadium as their home grounds in the next season. According to him, the team will use Polokwane's Old Peter Mokaba Stadium as an alternative home ground.