Action is priority for Ace Ncobo as he knuckles down on return to the PSL

Andile “Ace” Ncobo does not want to get ahead of himself as he embarks on his second stint as general manager at the Premier Soccer League (PSL). 

After a few days back at the Parktown office, Ncobo did not want to delve much into his list of immediate priorities to take the organisation forward, stressing he is consulting with staff on what those should be. 

“I am spending my first day sitting down with my colleagues and having eyeball to eyeball sessions with them before I meet them as a group,” said the former referee, who opposed Danny Jordaan in the election for South African Football Association (Safa) president in 2019.   

“That is to get insight into their individual operations and it is only when I have concluded that round of consultations that I will  be able to look at where the areas of improvement are, and building and consolidating the wonderful work they are already doing. 

“I know exactly where my strength lies. I know the innovative streak in me will produce outcomes that members of the media will easily identify with.

"Our primary client, the football fans, will see those, but again I am not the one to talk about plans. I prefer to knuckle down, do work and showcase the results thereof.” 

Ncobo, a former Fifa referee, said he returned to the PSL to serve the game he loves. 

“The PSL is a very unique organisation because we have only one professional league in the country. Those of us who truly love the sport will always relish the opportunity to serve the game of football.   

“You can’t say I don’t want to work for the PSL because I will work for another professional league. There is no other professional league. 

Ncobo left the PSL under controversial circumstances in 2009 and did not want to talk about that episode. 

“I am not interested in dwelling on the past. That’s not something I do. I am here for the future, I am here to serve football, to contribute to the great work the people I found here are already doing. 

“I have my own set of skills and the league will benefit from that. I am not the one to dwell on the past and look at who did what. For me it is the here and now and to produce a better future for all of us.”