“Being less popular helped us stay off the radar and do our work – Clinton Larsen

By Ayanda Nyuswa

Magesi FC coach Clinton Larsen believes being one of the less popular teams in the Motsepe Foundation Championship really helped them to stay off the radar and do their work quietly. The Limpopo outfit confirmed their promotion to the Dstv Premiership next season with a 3-1 win over Milford FC last Sunday, which saw them take an unassailable lead at the top of the standings and crowned champions of the Motsepe Foundation Championship.

Magesi were playing in only their second season in the MFC after making the jump from the SAFA ABC Motsepe League, and managed to crack it to the big time when not many people expected the club to achieve that. Speaking on Extratime on Gagasi FM, the newly promoted coach spoke about the toughness of gaining promotion to top flight football, and how being one of the less popular teams helped them to stay off the radar and do good work.

“It wasn’t easy and you are so right when you say that at the beginning of the season there are so many clubs with a much stronger history than Magesi,” said Larsen. You’ve got Martizburg, Marumo Gallants, Black Leopards, Baroka just to name a few. I think in some way that actually helped us to stay off the radar and get along with our work while everybody was focusing on the bigger names.”

The KZN born coach made special mention of the signing of three key players in the January transfer window which helped them to click into a different gear and gain their top flight status.

“The first round of the league was a challenge but we always maintained that top 4 top 5 position throughout. Everything just clicked into gear in the new year 2024, we had our recess and we came back and had a mini pre season. I signed 3 experienced players in Edmore Chirambadare ex Kaizer Chiefs Zimbabwean player, Rhulani Manzini with whom I worked with at Chippa, Deolin Mekoa ex Maritzburg and Ajax player, and these 3 players hit the ground running. We have played 11 games thus far in the new year and have only lost once, winning I think 7 or 8 times so that was key for us getting these 3 experienced players, to add extra depth to our team. The players have been amazing in terms of their attitude, in terms of how they approached the season and how they bought into the way I wanna do things. It’s just an amazing feeling to have achieved this in such a short space of time because I only joined the team mid-way through last season so it’s been a very short stay, but a very successful one,” Larsen concluded.