As part of their many ways to try and change the team's fortunes, Venda Football Academy (VFA) has bolstered the team's technical staff by roping in the former head coach of Black Leopards FC, Mr Joel Masutha.
Masutha's appointment came into effect on Monday this week. His appointment ends weeks of speculation that the club was planning to replace the current head coach of the team, Mr Simo Dladla, with Masutha.
The Prophet, as he is widely known, will serve as an assistant to Mr Dladla. According to the chairman of the club, Mr Itani Munzhelele, the current assistant coach, Mr Kabelo Sibiya, will continue to work as an assistant coach, together with Masutha. He said that Masutha's employment contract with the club would lapse at the end of the season.
Masutha's appointment follows a series of poor results for VFA over the past weeks. VFA are lying in the second-last position on the log standings with 10 points, which they had accumulated from 12 matches. They managed to win only three matches and shared the spoils on one occasion.
Asked whether his presence in the club would change the team's fortunes in their future games, Mr Masutha was quick to mention that the team's future looked bright. He reckoned that anything was still possible, when considering that the team had 18 matches to play before the end of the season. He said that their target was to win automatic promotion. "Should we fail to gain automatic promotion, we shall settle for the promotional playoffs," he said.
Masutha said that what he had observed during his short stay at the club was that VFA had assembled the best squad this season. He did not rule out the possibility of beefing up the current squad with a striker or two when the transfer window opens in January.
VFA started the season on a sad note, winning only one of their first five games. This prompted the club to fire the head coach, Mr Michael Loftman. Mr Kabelo Sibiya took over as a caretaker coach for the team. The team's fortunes did not change under Kabelo and the club was forced to appoint the former head coach for Richards Bay FC, Mr Simo Dladla, to the position of head coach.