By: Nhlanhla Ndlovu

Former Bafana Bafana and Kaizer Chiefs mentor Ted Dimitru is against the “Liverpool way” being implemented in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).

Hoypark Academy Management and English giants Liverpool Football Club announced on Wednesday a new venture that will see the Premier League side bring their coaching expertise to benefit grassroots football in KZN.

During the Soccerex at the Moses Mabhida Stadium, Liverpool head of international academies, Dan White, ensured the reporters that they will be in partnership with Hoypark.

“We’re excited because we know we have a huge number of fans here in South Africa,” he revealed. “This project is a great opportunity to bring the club closer to those fans.”

Meanwhile, the technical director of Hoypark Management, Paulo Cardoso, said the project was influenced by South African Football Association (SAFA).

“What SAFA wants is to have a professional game with the best players of the provinces. The plans are to have teams under 19, 17, 15 and in the future under 13,” added Cardoso.

The programme is set to development kids between the ages of 6 to 12, assisting the SAFA mandate of developing for the future national team.

But Dimitru believes that this programme will not assist in redeeming the South African football philosophy.

“To reach the highest performance levels in football today, you need to have expertise,” he said.

The senior member of South African Football Coaches Association (SAFCA), said every country’s philosophy works well in developing players.

“Every World Cup is won by a specific philosophy,” Dimitru shared with Journalismiziko, “because they develop from an early age to the top on that type of mentality.”

He added, “The best coach in any situation in a World Cup context is the coach that knows the nature of the player, the coach that speaks the same language, shares the same culture.”

He emphasized that the concept will never maximise the local talent as the heads of the project revealed that after the age of 12, youngsters will be introduced to the South African style of football.