Brett Evans of Ajax Cape Town
Ajax Cape Town veteran Brett Evans has been troubled by injury, but says his focus is still to play first team football despite beginning to coach the juniors.
MTNFootball: Brett, you are now coaching some of the Ajax youth, how have the youngsters been treating you and how are you finding coaching?
Brett Evans: I really enjoy it. I hope one day I will watch my kid play, which will be a big part of my life and I really don’t want to give that up.
I enjoy coaching but it’s not my main focus. Being a first team player and fulfilling my dream of playing professional football has been my dream. My main focus right now is not to coach, but to remain a first team player at Ajax.
How long have you been coaching now and what inspired you?
When I got the chance of coaching the Ajax Under 12 side in the evenings about a year ago, I looked forward to it, hoping that one day these kids will grow to be professional footballers and be even better than me.
Trying to give back to Ajax and the community is an inspiration on its own.
You’ve opted to start coaching quite young, is this your way of thanking Ajax for what they have done for you over the years?
1999 was my first season at Ajax. I’ve been here for a very long time. I’m very grateful to Ajax and I feel they’ve given me a great opportunity.
I’ve also given them my service and I have worked really hard to be where I am today, where I have also helped them out over the years.
So I think it’s a ‘scratch my back, I’ll scratch your back’ kind of a relationship.
We both have ways of helping each other. If I get the coaching job one day, I will add value as I know the club really well.
What do you make of Ajax’s struggles this season?
I feel we created a lot more scoring chances in the past. Yes we’ve had chances, but we are not scoring enough.
I feel for Terror (Fanteni) because everybody points fingers at him as a striker, but I think he is not getting enough service.
He grows in frustration and drops to collect the ball, when he gets that single chance and he misses it – everybody points a finger.
It is a team problem, but as a striker many people will look to him for goals.
How do you think Matthew Booth has helped Ajax and how has he done in the three games he’s played so far?
I think Matthew was very fortunate to have settled in during the time he spent with us, while his issue was being resolved in the boardroom.
He’s a great player who adds extra experience and we needed his aggression in the team. He showed his class against Pirates and I’m sure Benni McCarthy did not enjoy that game!
By Sandile Mazibuko, follow on twitter @Doc_Ndumo