Gordon Igesund keen on PSL return

Gordon Igesund

Wednesday Apr 22, 2020. 12:00

Gordon Igesund says he is open to the prospect of a return to coaching in South Africa’s Premier Soccer League (PSL) and insists that he has not yet retired.

The 63-year-old is one of the most accomplished coaches on the scene, having claimed four league championships with four different clubs: Manning Rangers 1996-97, Orlando Pirates 2000-01, Santos 2001-02 and Mamelodi Sundowns 2006-07.

Igesund, who has also helmed the South African national team in the past, was last in charge of a top-flight club in 2017, when he was unable to save Highlands Park from relegation.

While the Lions of the North have since returned to the elite division, Igesund has remained away from the spotlight, working on a grass-roots academy in Cape Town.

“People think I have retired, but I haven’t. I have been working hard on my academy for the past 18 months. We’ve got 300 boys whom we feed 200 meals a month,” Igesund told the Daily Sun.

“We are schooling them. It is a proper, proper academy and it is what I’m doing.”

Igesund continued, “But at the same time, I have been keeping myself abreast of what is happening in the PSL, and also new coaching methods in the world.

“We’ll see if something comes up. But my academy is up and running now. My academy has been huge, huge investments. We do all the testing of players, high-performance centre.

“But we’ll see what happens if something comes up in the PSL.”