Black Leopards striker Mwape Musonda says his team will never be relegated as long as the current players are playing for the club.
Mwape was speaking at the PSL head office in Parktown where he and his coach, Dylan Kerr, received the player and coach awards for the months of December and January.
It’s the first time in 10 years that Black Leopards have won a monthly PSL award.
Black Leopards coach Dylan Kerr and striker Mwape Musonda voted coach and player of the month. The first in the club’s history in ten years.@SABCNewsOnline #SABCNews pic.twitter.com/Emam8tSTWD
— Sifiso Ramara (@RamaraSifiso) January 30, 2019
Black Leopards have been the yo-yo club of South African football in recent years, one season in the Absa Premiership and back down to the National First Division the next.
But Leopards’ prolific striker Musonda says relegation is now a thing of the past.
“I don’t know about that squad then, but then I’ll speak for the current squad. I don’t see us getting relegated and I have confidence in the guys and we’ll push to finish on a high. So, I think we are not going to get relegated.”
The sudden confidence in the team has been instilled by its 52-year-old English mentor, Dylan Kerr. He joined the club six weeks ago and Black Leopards haven’t lost a match since. He even claimed the scalp of Orlando Pirates in the first round of the Nedbank Cup. Kerr says they are now a happy bunch.
“There’s teams not wanting to win the league, there’s teams who do not want to get relegated. So, it’s a tough competition to stay in the PSL and that’s something we have to focus on. But we have to do it right. We have to do it with the mentality that we are not superstars yet; not doing anything yet and we have to just keep going the way we are playing good football enjoying the football and playing with a smile on the face. Because if we see the players and the fans in Thohoyandou, everybody is happy at the moment and we want to keep that going. But we have to be very careful and we have to take one day at a time and as I keep saying to the players and the club, we’re taking baby steps.”
