Clinton Larsen says he’s he felt “the time was right” to get back into coaching, with his new post as head coach of Venda Football Club.
The former Golden Arrows and Polokwane City boss was most recently in charge of Magesi.
He led the club to the Betway Premiership before lifting the Carling Knockout Cup, but made a shock exit with defeat in the Carling All Stars Cup and with his team floundering in the league.
After six months out of the game, Larsen agreed to join a Venda side that ended in a lowly 14th place in the recently concluded Motsepe Foundation Championship.
He had been offered posts with AmaZulu, Cape Town Spurs and Baroka, but was waiting for the right time and opportunity.
Larsen told the Sowetan: “I had offers, I spoke to Baroka, Cape Town Spurs, AmaZulu and quite a number of teams, but negotiations broke down. So, I decided I would rather wait. It’s not like I was sitting at home without any offers.
“I felt the time was right now. I did promise myself that I don’t want to go and take teams that are five or seven games to go in the league, I made that mistake before. So, I tried to resist the temptation to go back into such a scenario, and I managed to do that.
“But when I got the call from Venda, it’s not very often where a coach is allowed officially in the NFD and Premiership the opportunity to bring his technical team, which I’m allowed to do. I think there are two clubs locally that allow you to come with your entire technical team. I’m allowed to do that (at Venda) and also build the team.
“I have said it before, I’m not obsessed with coaching in the Premiership, for me, I’m happy when the project is right for me.
“My gut tells me to take this challenge on with Venda. They have been flirting with relegation for the past three seasons, so it’s a big challenge for me to turn things around at the club.”