Gavin Hunt recently took over at Stellenbosch FC and is preparing for his first game in charge against Sekhukhune United on Tuesday.
After Steve Barker was in charge for nine years at the Winelands Club, it is the start of a new era for the team. Following a tricky first half of the campaign, Hunt is eager to get things back on track.
You’ve spoken before about the amount of movement in your recent career. How do you reflect on that now?
You don’t plan to move around a lot as a coach. Unfortunately, in my case, five or six clubs have been sold while I was there, and when that happens, you usually find yourself looking for a job. That’s just the reality of the business. I’ve actually had a lot of stability in my coaching career, except for the last three or four years, which have been a nightmare in terms of being up and down and moving around. But sometimes circumstances force that on you.
What attracted you to Stellenbosch FC and to football in Cape Town at this stage of your career?
If you look at Cape Town football and then look specifically at a club like Stellenbosch, you can see how advanced it is in terms of what surrounds the game. The technology, the data analysis, the way players are scouted and evaluated, that’s been a real eye-opener for me. The game is moving very fast, even though the basics of football never change. Stellenbosch are very advanced in that area, and that’s important for the future, as long as you don’t lose sight of hard work, determination, organisation and getting the right players in.
How do you view the broader situation of football in the Western Cape at the moment?
From the outside looking in, it’s been disappointing. Cape Town used to be a hotbed of football. At one stage we had four or five teams in the PSL regularly. Now you’re sometimes down to one. That makes things more difficult for Stellenbosch as well, because instead of travelling down the road for away games, you’re constantly travelling out of the province. Hopefully that changes again and teams come back up. You never think these things are going to happen until they do.
Turning to the squad, where do you feel the team needs strengthening?
It’s clear that we’re short in certain areas, especially up front and also at the back. There’s no doubt about that. There are a lot of negotiations going on right now. My phone hasn’t stopped. We’ve spoken to a lot of players and we’ve also lost out on a few. Once contracts are signed, the club will make announcements through the media department. It’s only been a week, but there’s a lot happening behind the scenes.
From what you’ve seen so far, what needs immediate improvement on the pitch?
I’ve watched a lot of the games and we need to be better at both ends of the pitch. Where we are right now, we need to defend better, it’s pretty basic. Over the weekend, I worked a lot on that side of the team, while also trying to improve our play going forward. The simple concept is to stop conceding goals and start scoring some. We need to create more chances as well. It sounds simple, but it’s something we must improve quickly because we’ve got tough games coming up.
What do you see as the core strengths of Stellenbosch FC as a team, based on what they have shown in recent seasons?
If you look at Stellenbosch over the last few years, they’ve always been difficult to play against. They’ve been competitive, quite direct if you want to call it that, and always a goal threat. They were a team you knew would be hard to beat. Whatever that style was, we need to get back to that a little bit.
Football goes in phases. Over the last few years, everyone was trying to copy what a certain coach was doing, and now you can already see the game moving away from that again, even those coaches have changed. One minute it’s playing out from the back with a goalkeeper who can’t really kick, then suddenly it’s something else. You see it at World Cups too, one tournament it’s a back four, the next everyone wants to play a back three. Football becomes fashionable.
I think Cape Town football has a certain DNA, and you have to be careful not to lose that. We’ve seen it before. Ajax Cape Town went away from what they were good at, ended up bottom of the league trying to play a certain way, then went back to a 4-4-2 and finished sixth. The same thing happened when I was there, we moved away from the high pressing, brought back players who suited us, and suddenly we were back to what we were good at.
So maybe you can’t change too much. As a club, we need to get back to what makes us good, what makes us Stellenbosch FC. What that is, we need to find very quickly.
How have you found the environment at the club since arriving?
From a distance, you could already see the stability the club has had over the last eight or nine years, and that’s what you want at any football club. Obviously, this has been a difficult period for the staff because something new has come in that wasn’t expected. From my side, I’ve had honest conversations with management, which is important. At the end of the day, results are what matter. That’s football.
What has stood out most for you in terms of support at Stellenbosch FC?
The support has been fantastic. That’s the most important thing for me. I feel supported, and that allows you to walk through the front door, not backwards. The supporters, the staff, the fitness trainers, the management, everyone has been brilliant. The club is pushing in the right direction, and that’s important for me. I always say, if you’re honest with the game, the game will be honest with you. I’ve been in enough situations to know when people are genuine, and that’s what I’ve found here.
With a busy schedule ahead, how do you approach prioritising matches?
You can’t prioritise games in football. The next game is always the most important one. You start thinking this game is important and that one isn’t, and that’s when you get into trouble. We focus on the next match, which is Tuesday, and then we move on to the one after that. I’m not a big believer in unnecessary rotation unless there’s a real reason. You have to stay focused and concentrated all the time.