New Chippa coach Daine Klate: ‘I want the players to hate losing’

One of the primary objectives of newly-appointed Chippa United head coach Daine Klate will be to introduce more local talent into the system.

Having taken charge of the team from interim coach Kurt Lentjies in Klate’s first senior coaching role a little over a week ago, the former SuperSport United, Orlando Pirates, Bidvest Wits and Chippa midfielder aims to hit the ground running in his new role.

Klate is the most decorated player in SA football in the PSL era and is hoping to use all his experience to help bring a winning mentality back to the Chilli Boys.

Klate is a product of Gqeberha, Born and raised in Gelvandale in the coastal city, the former Glenville Celtic amateur player achieved great things at professional level, including six Premiership winners medals and various cup wins in a glittering 16-year career.

When his playing stint with Chippa ended at the conclusion of a 2018-19 season where he made 14 appearances, Klate had amassed 280 PSL appearances, scoring 42 goals. He also earned 13 caps for Bafana Bafana, scoring just once in a friendly against Malawi in Germiston in 2008.

“That is one of the tasks for me coming in as a local boy, having worked with the Chippa DDC [DStv Diski Challenge reserve] side — there are only local players in that team. So we have a wide net of players to choose from,” Klate said. 

“The club wants to have more local players in the team, and also wants to make a difference in more local players’ lives.

“For the most part, boys have to go away if they want a career in football. This is the only team in the Eastern Cape and we want to make more opportunities for them to stake a claim.”

While it would have not been an easy decision to make considering the chopping and changing of coaches at the club in the past, it never took much time for him to take up the job when he was approached by the club chairperson Siviwe Mpengesi earlier this month.

“I spoke to my family and other close relatives because that is how I like to operate. I try to get some opinions from others then make decisions around that. So it wasn’t that difficult a decision to make, but it wasn’t easy either,” he said.

With such a decorated playing career, Klate said his aim at the Chilli Boys is to instil a winning mentality.

“I want the players to hate losing. And perhaps previously losing was accepted a bit too much. So we will try to change that and then see how best we can ring back positive results.”

Klate said the team would have a preseason camp in Johannesburg this week, giving him a good indication of where his players are as the season draws nearer.

On the squad he inherited, Klate said: “I am happy that every position is covered by at least two players.

“There are a lot of young players coming through so the composition of the side is looking good.

“We will try to strengthen here and there depending on what is available in the market — the affordability is also very important for us. So, we will stick to the budget of the team while trying to build a strong team that can compete in the league.”

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