Pirates with a challenge to win trophies as they celebrate 85 years

As Orlando Pirates celebrate their 85th anniversary this year, one thing they’ll aim for in the next decade is to win trophies, especially when they get a chance to to be in cup finals.

When the Buccaneers celebrated their 75th anniversary in 2012 there was a lot to enthuse about as they had just won a back-to-back treble in a decade in which (in total) they won three league titles and four domestic cup competitions.

In contrast, Pirates have lost seven cup finals in the last decade — including three Caf interclub competitions and twice finishing as runners-up in the DStv Premiership — winning only two domestic cup competitions.

Pirates coach Jose Riveiro, the 11th coach in the last 11 years, spoke this week of the need for Bucs to convert their opportunities if they’re to collect more trophies in the next decade.

“It will be important that we’re not sleeping when we get two or three good results,” the 46-year-old Spanish coach said of what Bucs need to do if they’re to improve and give Pirates fans something to celebrate this season.

“We’re going to put everything in order to make it, not because it’s the 85th anniversary but just because this [winning] is why we’re here. Hopefully it will be a special year for the club. We want to achieve our objectives but I’m sure that next season and the season after that the objectives are going to be the same. In that sense we want this season to have no more pressure than we would normally have.”

Over the past 10 years Pirates have been chopping and changing coaches when things don’t go their way. And the number of players they part ways with a bring in at the start of every season has tended to disrupt the momentum they ended the previous season with.

That they have only twice come close to winning the league in the last decade — 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 under Milutin Sredojevic — is testimony to Bucs’ impatience with coaches, who need at least three or four years to build a squad.

Pirates had stability under Sredojevic and could have won the league on the two occasions they finished as runners-up if it were not for the money Mamelodi Sundowns could spend on players and the acumen of top SA coach Pitso Mosimane, the man in charge of Sundowns at the time.

Before the start of the current campaign, for instance, Pirates released no less than 11 players, including long-time skipper Happy Jele, former Bafana Bafana captain Thulani Hlatshwayo and top striker Gabadinho Mhango, who is already working wonders at AmaZulu FC.

Over the past 10 years Pirates have been chopping and changing coaches when things don’t go their way

With so many changes in the current Bucs squad, Riveiro — who may not have contributed to new-player recruitment because he’d just arrived — has started the campaign on a promising note by winning two of the club’s first three league matches.

Riveiro has said he wants his team not just to win but to do so while entertaining fans. With attacking players such as Deon Hotto and Thembinkosi Lorch, Riveiro seem to have material he can build his team around.

But there are still question marks around Bucs’ strike force — Riveiro appears to be uncertain whether to start with Cameroonian-born sharpshooter Eva Nga or Ghana’s Kwame Peprah.

Pirates fans will make good assessments of their new coach and the squad he has in the week starting today as Bucs will play three matches, including an MTN 8 quarterfinal clash against Royal AM in Durban on Saturday.

Riveiro spoke on the need to follow their 1-0 midweek league victory against Royal AM in Durban with another good performance against SuperSport United away today and Marumo Gallants at home on Wednesday.

But what Bucs fans would like to see is their team winning more trophies than they did in the last 10 years. Riveiro’s big task is to lay a good foundation as Bucs begin another decade.