Nomadic Vlad is tired of club-hopping

If Vladislav Heric had his way, he would implement a rule that prohibited clubs from appointing three coaches in two years.

The 52-year-old Serbian has become South Africa’s modern-day Walter Rautmann, the Austrian known locally for being hired, fired and rehired in a short space of time, to a point that he ended up guiding more than 10 teams across the premier and first division leagues.

Like Rautmann, Heric rarely lasts a season at one club, yet local clubs keep calling on him when they are struggling.

Walter Rautmann. Picture: Duif du Toit / gallo images

This includes those teams that had fired him before – as was the case at Chippa United most recently and Black Leopards, who introduced him to local football in the 2004/05 season.

To date, Heric has guided 14 different clubs in as many years since his arrival in South Africa, with Ubuntu Cape Town giving him his latest home.

“The question must go to the owners of the clubs,” he responded frankly when City Press asked why he had club-hopped so much.

“After 14 years serving in this country, I am probably the most disrespected coach. I have helped seven clubs to escape relegation – four in the [National First Division] NFD and three in the [Premier Soccer League] PSL,” added Heric, who lives in Cape Town with his wife.

The longest the nomadic coach has occupied the hot seat was a year-and-half at the now defunct Bay United and most recently at Ajax Cape Town, even though he was a development coach at the Mother City club.

His last stint was at Chippa United, where he was axed as the club’s technical director before he even started.

Heric was initially employed as the Chilli Boys’ interim coach after he succeeded Teboho Moloi at the helm and helped save the Nelson Mandela Bay-based side from relegation, including a famous 3-0 win over Kaizer Chiefs that compounded Amakhosi’s woes last season.

Heric later made way for Dan Malesela, who made a shock return to the club, only to be dismissed by the trigger-happy Siviwe “Chippa” Mpengesi after a mere three official matches in charge.

The Serbian is now hoping for a longer stay at Ubuntu, the NFD strugglers who he joined three weeks ago, replacing Casey Prince.

Clearly disillusioned by the rate at which he has been hired, fired and rehired, Heric said he was even contemplating quitting the game.

Heric steered Chippa United to premiership promotion four years ago.

Ubuntu – the Nedbank Cup giant-killers from last season, who knocked out AmaZulu and Polokwane City to reach the quarterfinals – have suddenly become NFD’s whipping boys. They are still without a win after 10 matches so far this campaign.

Their scoring rate is not glossy, either – the Cape side only just netted their fourth goal of the campaign in a 1-1 draw against Jomo Cosmos last weekend.

The strike by Waseem Isaacs ended Ubuntu’s four-match run without a goal and handed the team their fourth point of the campaign.

Heric has attributed the team’s struggles to six players’ injuries, who he said were out for a number of months.

Ubuntu host Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila this afternoon, a side Heric described as “good travellers” because of the Limpopo team’s impressive record away from home.

Heric’s first match ended with a 2-0 defeat to the University of Pretoria a fortnight ago.