The German arrived at the Buccaneers after having been jobless for two years and with no track record of success in his coaching career
Orlando Pirates coach Josef Zinnbauer says the doubts people had about him after joining the Soweto giants with an unimpressive CV gave him a “sting”, but it is what motivated him for success.
After parting ways with Swiss side FC St Gallen in May 2017, he was unemployed until landing the Buccaneers job on December 10, 2019.
Questions were raised about Pirates appointing a coach who had no employment for two years and without a track record of winning any titles.
But the German quickly warmed the hearts of Pirates fans after taking an eighth-placed side to finish third on the Premier Soccer League standings last season.
To further endear himself to the hearts of Bucs fans, Zinnbauer guided the Buccaneers to a 2-1 MTN8 final victory over Bloemfontein Celtic last Saturday, and earned the club their first major trophy since 2014.
“Well, one doesn’t have a crystal ball which shows the future however, any coach who joins a big club, a club with a history and pedigree such as Orlando Pirates, should know what he is getting himself into and what is expected of him,” Zinnbauer told the Pirates website.
“However, having said that I joined during a difficult period at the club. It was not easy taking over a team in mid-season and a group of players who had already experienced two different coaches in that year.
“It was not an ideal scenario but management has been supportive from day one, we worked hard and thankfully we started to turn things around. It hasn’t been perfect, but I think under the circumstances we did well to steer the Pirates ship back in the right direction.
“As for expecting to win the cup? It’s an amazing feeling of course to win but like I said earlier, a team like Pirates expects success and this means that we don’t stop now .
“For me this is very special. I remember in the first two weeks in the club I was bombarded with the same questions about not winning any title and how I expected to end the club’s barren spell without having won anything.
“Obviously, such comments do sting but I am someone who is motivated by such things and I’m obviously thankful at the end of it all that I’ve been able to lead the team to this MTN8 win.”
The Pirates job is Zinnbauer’s first-ever job on the African continent.
In clinching the MTN8 trophy, the 50-year-old admitted that he gambled by fielding match-hero Thembinkosi Lorch, who initially been scheduled to be on the sidelines, recovering from a knee surgery.
“I’ll be honest, this was not a one-man decision [playing Lorch]. When we had the injury to [Thabang] Monare, we had to decide quickly who to bring on,” said Zinnbauer.
“I had a discussion with my assistant Fadlu [Davids] and we agreed to bring on Lorch. But because he was coming back from an injury, we knew that we could only play him for 60-70 minutes. We took the risk and it paid off. Lorch did an amazing job and capped off that performance with a match winning goal.”
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