Clinton Larsen has led little known Limpopo club Magesi FC to the elite league of South African football, writes Mogamad Allie.

When they finished in a lowly 12th position in last year’s Motsepe Foundation Championship (MFC) table, few would have bet on modest Magesi winning promotion to the DStv Premiership a year later.

Not only did the club from Moletjie, a small town 55km north west of Polokwane – better known as being the birthplace of former world and Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya – book themselves a place in the top flight, they also did so as champions of the MFC.

After securing promotion with a 3-1 win over Milford on 5 May, coach Clinton Larsen told the media: “It has been a lot of hard work. It has been 15 months since I came here to the club from last season and since day one, we had a lot of work to do.

“We had to change the structure to make sure the club works as a professional outfit. I want to thank the management for that trust and support. There was not a single day of interference from the club.”

The 2023/24 season was only Magesi’s third in the MFC following their promotion from SAFA’s ABC Motsepe League, the third tier of South African football. It was the Limpopo side’s second spell in the MFC, also commonly referred to as the National First Division (NFD), after suffering the ignominy of immediate relegation in 2017.

While the club’s rapid rise has been attributed to several factors, even Larsen admits he didn’t expect things to go as well and swiftly as they did.

“Winning promotion with Magesi ranks right up there with winning the Telkom Knockout with Bloemfontein Celtic in 2012,” the 53-year-old coach told the Newzroom Africa television channel.

“This is a little bit more special in terms of the time period in which we achieved this. There are so many teams that are playing in the NFD that have been trying to win promotion to the Premiership for so long.

For us to do it in such a short space of time is magnificent because this team has only been in the NFD for two seasons. Credit must go to my CEO [Peter Koutroulis] and my chairman Dr Solly Makhubela, I think their astute leadership allowed me to get on with my coaching.

We have a very stable club, we don’t have any issues in terms of player salaries being late or short, something that is quite rife within the NFD, so I’m very grateful to them for trusting me and allowing me to get on with my job.

The people of Moletjie can be very happy that they now have a team in the DStv Premiership.

It’s the first time where I’ve worked at a club and been given carte blanche to mould the team the way I see fit. During my time here not once has there been any form of interference in my work.”

By securing promotion early in May, Magesi gave themselves valuable additional time to prepare for the rigours of life in the top flight. It’s a luxury not lost on Larsen who is only too aware of how much a lack of preparation time contributed to Cape Town Spurs’ single-season sojourn in the top flight.

Spurs were still involved in the playoffs a mere six weeks before the start of the new season.

The former Bafana midfielder, who’s had previous coaching spells in the PSL with Bloemfontein Celtic, Maritzburg United, Golden Arrows, Chippa United and Polokwane City, revealed he was already in talks with several players to join Magesi when the transfer window opened on 1 July.

“We started the recruitment process for next season immediately after clinching qualification.” Reflecting on the formula that ensured his team were crowned champions ahead of former PSL sides like Black Leopards, Baroka, Maritzburg United, Marumo Gallants and the University of Pretoria, Larsen says the role of experienced campaigners in vital positions was key.

“We tried to ensure the team had a very strong spine. We have a very experienced goalkeeper in Elvis Chipezeze [above], in our midfield we had Samuel Darpoh [right] who’s played for AmaZulu for many years, we also had Wonderboy Makhubu, Deolin Mekoa as well as Rhulani Manzini, just to name a few who had top-flight experience.

“We also had Diamond Thopola who played for Orlando Pirates and Chippa United and I think these senior players were the glue of the team that kept everything together.

We struck a very good balance with the senior players and the youngsters that we brought in, and it all worked out fine in the end.”

Although Larsen’s last spell as coach in the PSL ended with Polokwane City being relegated in 2020, he believes his time away from the top league won’t have any impact on what is shaping up to be a big challenge.

“It will be the same Clinton Larsen who coached in the PSL four seasons ago. I’ve had the chance to look from the outside during this time. I know the [opposition] teams a lot better from doing analysis.

“Even though I wasn’t in the league I still kept abreast of what was going on in it, so I’m looking forward to the challenge, to giving especially the young players a chance to prove their worth at the top level. It’s going to be exciting times ahead for Magesi.”

The club is likely to continue using the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium as their home venue although they are hoping to base themselves at the Seshego Stadium, about 30km outside their headquarters in Moletjie, during the course of the season.

They are hopeful that the Polokwane municipality will complete the upgrading of the stadium to meet PSL requirements by the end of the year.

The municipality is also aiming to complete a partnership agreement with Magesi before the season starts in August. The PSL’s newcomers are also expected to play their home games against big teams like Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns at the World Cup Peter Mokaba Stadium.

Magesi was formed in 2011 by Dr Solly Makhubela, who was motivated to provide a vehicle through which the talent of aspirant young players in Moletjie could be harnessed.

“It was difficult for them to break into the professional ranks so I thought I could help them if we had our own team,” Makhubela told The Citizen newspaper.

As the club seeks to avert the fate that befell Cape Town Spurs last season, they do have some history on their side as the last team to be relegated after winning promotion as second- tier champions was Jomo Cosmos way back in 2012.