Premier League is not a bed of roses at all. If the team is seriously prepared, they will survive and if they are not, they will go to where they were the previous season.
Many teams that got promoted to the Premier League stayed only for a season only to go back because of ill preparedness.
Last season, the teams that made it from the lower division were Serowe based side, Miscellaneous, Tasc of Francistown and Tlokweng based side, Black Peril.
With four games played, Black Peril is the ones that have not had it easy but it is Miscellaneous that have shown a lot of promise.
Of their four matches, they have drawn two won one and lost the other. They are under the tutelage of former Tasc coach, Teenage Mpote.
Mpote had a great time at Tasc, both as a player and coach. By then Tasc were under the army and had all the support one would ask for.
Joining Miscellaneous three years ago was kind of a great challenge for Mpote because it is a community based team with different set ups from the ones he was used to. He had to take three seasons to guide the team to the Premier League and had it been other coaches they could have long left.
The team always lost it at the promotional playoffs and for that matter controversially. But he soldiered on until he automatically made it this past season.
Mpote also did not really sign big names for his team but depended on the ones he had from the lower divisions.
“I would say so far we have made a good start but there is still a long way to go. I don’t also want to say whether we are going to survive or finish in a reputable position but people will just see for themselves,” said Mpote.
Mpote also told Sunday Standard that his team has made a good start despite the fact that they did not go into the transfer market to assemble a strong squad. Mpote lamented that lack of inadequate resources played a part but at the same time he has faith in the players he has.
“After getting promotion to the elite league many people said we should go into the transfer market and buy quality players. It was going to be difficult because Premier League players do not come cheap. The best we could do with the little resources we have was to invest in the players we had,” he said.
A feared striker in his heydays, Mpote emphasised that he has already been with most of his players for more than three years and, as such, he has a common understanding with them. He stressed that he is also one of those coaches that give each player a chance to express themselves. Having missed the promotion to the elite league by a whisker for several years, many vultures were always hovering for Miscellaneous players. But the team managed to hold on to them despite mouth-watering and tempting offers.
“I have been with most of these players for some time now and most of them are guaranteed a place in the team. They knew that once they join those big clubs with already established players, it was going to be difficult for them to break into the starting line up. Big teams also have good players warming the bench and it is not good for the development of a player. A player needs to be at a team where he would play regularly,” he said.
One player who was always on the wanted list of many teams is industrious striker, Emmanuel Thakadu. When Miscellaneous got promoted he was the leading goal scorer.
