Fadlu Davids earns high praise from compatriot at Raja CA

Butler has been part of Davids’ technical team since their time at Simba SC in Tanzania, where they led the club to the CAF Confederation Cup final in 2025. 

Speaking to SABC Sport, the lead fitness coach explained that while his role is to provide expertise on player load and injury prevention, he credits Davids and the rest of the technical team for cultivating a growth-driven environment. 

"With regards to football understanding, football periodisation – I obviously just come in to support and share my view on things with regards to load and injury prevention, but he's someone that understands a little bit of sports science," said Butler.

"But what I can say about the entire technical team, not only Coach Fadlu, is that they have an incredible work rate, they're always thinking outside the box and they push you individually.

"Like, I was asked to do my UEFA Licences, they just recently also asked our analyst to also do his licences, and usually the coach will task me to do like a technical warm-up, and it would have to be a type of passing drill that speaks to our principles of play.

"So it's very demanding, but he's also a very good leader, he protects his own and he's willing to take pressure upon himself, so that's my experience."

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Butler further emphasised that Davids believes in a multidisciplinary technical team that prioritises collaboration and constant communication, making his job lighter. 

"I would definitely say it makes it lighter because he also believes in collaboration, he believes in a multidisciplinary technical team," he added.

"He even tasked me – because when I came to Raja, I had the [attitude], 'I'm the main fitness coach, I'm the lead,' so I wouldn't communicate with my assistant, who's the local guy.

"So he came and said, 'Hey Durell, you have to collaborate, sometimes there's stuff you're missing or sometimes you need a devil's advocate,' so the fact that he's willing to collaborate makes the job much easier."