Gallants coach Folz not bothered that he is younger than some of his players

Marumo Gallants coach Romain Folz says questions about his age do not bother him.

The 31-year-old French-Moroccan was officially welcomed to the club by its chairperson, Abram Sello, in Sandton, Johannesburg on Wednesday and had to field questions about his experience.

“Whether you are a cook or whether you are manager or a player, age does not matter,” Folz said. “What is important is whether you are able to do your job to the best.

“I have had to answer that question a lot and maybe people think that it irritates me — no, maybe it’s the way I speak. I know how to handle this because let’s judge me on the field and [by] how the team performs.”

At Gallants, Folz will be coaching players who are the same age as or older than him.

“I have had to answer that question for the last three years every time I join a new club. I have faced zero problems in that regard during the course of my coaching career so far and I don’t think I am going to experience problems here at Gallants,” the coach said.

“I am a strong believer that if everything is set up properly at the beginning and that if everybody knows what they are supposed to do, things will go well. If communication is OK, nothing is going to go wrong.

“I understand the question because it is always a topic to debate about, but I do not see that as a problem in any way not to perform.”

Despite his age, Folz has worked as an assistant coach at French lower league outfit Chamois Niortais FC and as head coach at Ashanti Gold in Ghana and Township Rollers in Botswana.

Gallants also unveiled three unknown signings in Sam Nkomo, Koketso More and Lesiba Nku in an effort to beef up the side.

The club will participate in the Caf Confederations Cup for the second successive season after they featured in last season’s Nedbank Cup final, where they lost narrowly to Mamelodi Sundowns in the dying minutes of extra time.

“We are looking to sign more players and strengthen the team, we are not finished,” Gallants technical director Harris Choeu said.

“The Confed Cup is going to be very taxing again. But we are happy that we have managed to hold on to 80% of our key players, such as Ndabayithethwa Ndlondlo. He is staying put. We only lost Tim Miguel, who went to Orlando Pirates.”