21/11/2022
Here is the story between Clive Barker and SAFA in the era in which our football started to take a nose dive... Clive Barker helped Bafana Bafana to qualify for world 1998, an achievement that earned South African Football Association R7.5 million and the money could have increased had they progressed beyond group stages. According to publications Clive Barker was earning R12000 per month when he was wrapped in as Bafana Bafana coach in 1994. He took over a demoralized and confused national set up and forged a side characterized by self belief and a will to win. And win they did, securing the African Nationa Cup in 1996. In the process doing more for national pride and nation building than most well meaning initiatives have done. Shortcomings became apparent during the world cup qualifying campaigns, but nevertheless, the man achieved the task set out to do.
He was being paid to do two things, specifically: To prepare the squad for the finals and and to achieve success in France. By success, I suggest qualification for the second round (Round 16) and achieving a level of respect that would lift the national team's standing internationally - securing lucrative friendlies in future and for all of this Clive Barker was demanding R100 000 per month and said he did not want win bonuses, just a salary. This is where the problem started as SAFA thought Barker did not worth R100 000 per month, consequently they hired European coach whom they thought worth that money but all this coach has done was to send our national team down the drain beyond recovery, to this day our national team is still suffering and fail to participate in decent international tournaments. All what SAFA could have done was to meet Clive Barker's demands to keep consistency and maintain the culture of our football that has been compromised for European philosophy.
