Leone Stars Coach Olof Mattsson wants a ‘Permanent Deal’
He may not have been so lucky to qualify his team for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon however, the Leone Stars head coach Lars Olof Mattsson says he wants a permanent contract with the team.
The 56-year old took over Leone Stars as head coach from Christian Cole under controversial circumstances after Youth, Employment and Sports Minister Paul Kamara invited him to Sierra Leone after the team’s first two matches in the just concluded 2012 Nations Cup qualifiers.
From that time, he had won two, lost one and drew one match out of the six matches Leone Stars played in the entire qualifiers.
However, after his last Group G qualifying match against South Africa’s Bafana Bafana on October 8 2011 in Nelspruit South Africa which ended goalless, the Swede said that he would like to continue with the team as head coach but on a permanent basis rather than the current adhoc arrangement of being paid on a match by match basis.
Asked whether he would call it quit now that the qualifiers are completed Olof Mattsson said: “no, I need to stay and continue to work with the Leone Stars. Don’t forget we have the 2013 Nations Cup qualifiers and the World Cup as well so I need to stay. If they need me we can sit down and negotiate for the next two to three years. Again, my focus is the 2014 World Cup qualifiers. I will like to continue with the Leone Stars but there are other offers from different clubs and national teams which I have to look into and discuss with other people including my family.”
He continued: “but I am not going to do (work) that next year on a match by match basis. If they like to hire me, it’s going to be on a permanent basis.”
He added he would not take up any job alone but together with his back-room staff.
Lars Olof Mattsson described the current crop of Leone Stars players as a ‘fantastic group of young talented footballers to work with.’
He said: “I like the players very much and the country is beautiful.”
By Frank Cole in Nelpruit, South Africa
Credit: SWASAL, Sponsor: Mercury Int. (SL) Ltd.
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