Peter Butler's coaching style was 'too English' for Platinum Stars

Platinum Stars captain Vuyo Mere has said that former coach Peter Butler failed to win the dressing room at the club because his ‘English’ coaching philosophy was not suited for Platinum Stars.

Speaking after their 2-0 league loss to SuperSport United at Lucas Moripe Stadium on Tuesday night‚ the former Bafana Bafana and Mamelodi Sundowns wingback said Butler’s philosophy was not suitable for Dikwena.

When Butler was fired last week‚ Stars were sitting at the bottom of the log following successive losses to Maritzburg United and Cape Town City.

“Coach Butler came to the club with his English philosophy of football‚ which most players in the team‚ who are youngsters‚ found it very difficult to adapt to‚” Mere said.

“Our previous coach Cavin Johnson believed in holding the ball and building up and that was suitable for us but he (Butler) changed that approach.

“Our culture at Platinum Stars is to hold possession but we are happy that (new Stars coach) Roger De Sa believes in that philosophy‚ which is suitable to us and hopefully it will work going forward.

“There is always going to be a change because they are two different coaches. Roger is more familiar with the game in South Africa and we are looking forward to working with him.

“He is an open guy and I don’t want to talk more about the previous coach because‚ to be fair enough to the guy‚ he had his aspects and views of the game but he wasn’t meant for Platinum Stars.”

Stars remain bottom of the log after three league matches and Mere challenged senior players in the team to pull their weight and help to steer the team up the table.

“It is up to the senior players to pull their weight‚ come to the party and keep on motivating the younger players so that we get out of the situation that we find ourselves in‚” he said.

“Looking at the way we played against SuperSport‚ I am not too disappointed with the effort by the boys because we created chances and that is the area we need to work more on going forward.

“We are not burying the chances that we create but we can’t blame the strikers only because there are other areas where we must improve.”

Stars conceded the two goals in the last five minutes against SuperSport‚ and Mere said a lack of concentration at crucial stages has been their undoing in the three matches this season.

“We need to concentrate on different phases of the game because we concede goals in the dying minutes of the first or the second half.

"This is another area where we must do something about‚” Stars’ skipper admitted.

- TimesLIVE