Benni: I know what it takes to be a coach

Benni McCarthy starts his new life as head coach of Cape Town City on Thursday, saying he will draw on his experience as an assistant coach in Belgium in the 2015-2016 season.

McCarthy worked under Cape Town-raised head coach Chris O'Loughlin at Sint Truiden, the current club of South African striker Kurt Abraham. He says that experience opened his eyes to what was required of the head of a technical team.

The pair ensured that newly promoted Sint Truiden kept their top-flight status, though their contracts were not renewed. O'Loughlin is now a first-team coach at English side Charlton Athletic.

"It was probably the best thing I could have done because it prepared me," McCarthy says.

"I got to face the things that football players don't get to see - the hard work, the tactical analysis and having to analyse games, your own players and the opponents."

McCarthy says it has taken a shift in mindset to make the transition from player to coach.

"I was used to getting in at 9am, having my breakfast and getting maybe a rubdown and playing some head tennis with the guys.

"Then you go out on the pitch. Training starts, finishes, you shower and then you go home. It was a nice, easy day for me as a player.

"But in becoming an assistant coach I would do exactly the same. But after lunch time I would go back to the office to do more work. I used to get home at 6pm.

"I thought: 'Wow, if I knew this was what coaching was about, I would have stuck to just playing another couple of years more!'" he joked.

"But I am a football guy. I love the game. I love the sport and it gave me everything. For me not to want to be involved in it was a no-no."

He feels his time at Sint Truiden was a success, despite the that fact he left after one season. 

"We did not reach the heights that some people expected of us, but we were also tipped for relegation and that [survival] was all the club wanted. But we did it, convincingly. We achieved more than what the club expected from us," McCarthy said.