The irony of the ecstasy that greeted Mamelodi Sundowns grabbing their seventh successive Premier Soccer League (PSL) championship is that in its wake lay the debris of a dynasty in tatters from self-inflicted destruction.
The contrast was eerie in the aftermath of a 5-1 drubbing of Kaizer Chiefs as Sundowns celebrated their seventh consecutive championship title under the Soweto sky and inside the Calabash, the home of Amakhosi — it rubbed salt in the gaping wound inflicted by a club that has assumed the mantle of the standard-bearers of South African football.
The defeat is Chiefs’ heaviest in the PSL era. When they lost 4-1 to Pirates in the Bob Save Super Bowl in 1996, the club apologised to the fans. Chairman Kaizer Motaung understood the pain suffered by supporters for the margin of defeat to their arch-rivals.
Nowadays, even a Nedbank Cup last-16 humiliation by lowly Milford is met with stony silence, even by the Chiefs hierarchy.
Get Pitso or Manqoba to fix this thing. We’ve tried to buy players it hasn't worked. Chiefs, a big club like Manchester United and Barcelona, can’t go a decade without winning the league. It is a big worry
“It is the lowest of the low,” said Chiefs legend Marks Maponyane, one of the poster boys of the Glamour Boys’ glorious years. “Yes, Kaizer [Motaung] has not apologised, but you can imagine how often he’ll have to do that these days. When he did that back then, the team had direction, he felt that defeat was a mistake.
“This time in six games, Chiefs win one and get humiliated in the seventh. They don’t look organised or certain in what they’re doing. The sense of assertiveness is not there.
“On the field, in big games, if you look at the second and third goals Pirates scored [in the 3-2 Soweto derby defeat in March] and Sundowns’ third goal [on Thursday], the defence is caught flat on a straight line. They are exposed by many other teams like that. Don’t they work on this? Don’t they rectify things? They look like a group of players just going through the motions; no confidence, not convincing.”
Chaos in motion
It speaks to a coaching deficiency. Incumbent Cavin Johnson landed the job by accident, on an interim basis to replace Molefi Ntseki, who succeeded Arthur Zwane, whose predecessor was Gavin Hunt, who replaced Ernst Middendorp. Johnson’s reign has been chaos in motion.
It seems when Chiefs took Zwane out for Ntseki, the thought was “what if he fails”, and Johnson was brought in disguised as head of its academy. It is symptomatic of a chaotic operation devoid of visionary planning and without set targets.
A dawn must be ushered for Chiefs to create a new chapter. Pitso Mosimane is an ambitious coach who does not shy away from big projects. He turned SuperSport United into a formidable force. Having inherited a disjointed Sundowns, he moulded them into a menacing domestic championship mean machine and grew their stature as a formidable foe on the continental front.
Furthermore, he galvanised Africa’s biggest club, Al Ahly of Egypt, to win back-to-back Champions League titles.
Chiefs stalwart Lucky Stylianou believes either Mosimane, or his erstwhile Sundowns assistant Manqoba Mngqithi, can cure Chiefs’ ills. “There is no coach in South Africa capable of coaching Chiefs other than Pitso or Manqoba Mngqithi,” he said.
“There must be a recondition, getting on board somebody that comes in with a sword, to say ‘I don’t want this one and I want that one’. Pitso will do that. Chiefs is about success, trophies, no question about it. Anything less than that is an uncomfortable season. Pro soccer is about now. Not about bragging rights,” he said.
“I will jump with joy if Pitso gets the job. He knows what to do. He is direct. You underperform, you’re on the bench, and you are on your way out. He has no room for loafers. He gets the demand of being a Chiefs coach. Get Pitso or Manqoba to fix this thing. We’ve tried to buy players, it hasn’t worked. Chiefs, a big club like Manchester United and Barcelona, can’t go a decade without winning the league. It is a big worry.”
Pitso’s bucket list
And Mosimane’s confidants confess that coaching Chiefs is on his bucket list. “There’s a possibility, if they agree on financial terms. He is a disciplinarian and creates a network to monitor his players. He will bring discipline, set rules of engagement that will hit even management. How he dealt with the drinking culture at Downs is common knowledge,” said one.
“He doesn’t shy away from taking difficult decisions if they’re in the best interest of the team. Perhaps the moment is opportune for non-family members to assume positions of responsibility in management.”
Serving the final year of his contract at Sundowns, Mngqithi, who has also been linked to the Chiefs job, said on Thursday: “Five is good but six would have been better.”
Players like Sibongiseni Mthethwa, Given Msimango, Ashley Du Preez, Mduduzi Mdantsane, Edson Castillo and Thatayaone Ditlhokwe, to name six, have come in.
“My grandmother can see a good player. Chiefs need players with character, fighters with a work ethic, mental speed, the technical intelligence to act quickly. You need someone to source those players, to ask can he fight, does he hide when the team is losing, does he disappear during matches. Currently we have players who don’t know where to stand, they don't know their zones, how long, narrow, wide your zone and where do you stand,” said Stylianou.
“With the salaries they are paying now, there are fine players in Eastern Europe and South America, you can get them for reasonable value. They need to go back to the market to improve. I am upset that they threw in the towel.”
Chiefs have not accelerated the integration of academy graduates to the first team. Nkosingiphile Ngcobo, Happy Mashiane, Mduduzi Tshabalala and Samkelo Zwane have been bit part players in the last couple of seasons, promoted only for their progress to be stifled.
Game time helps young players to gain experience and grow in confidence. Recently promoted Mfundo Vilakazi’s peer at Orlando Pirates, Relebohile Mofokeng, illustrates this point perfectly, as he has settled in and hit his stride in the senior team.
Youth integration
Maponyane argues that Chiefs’ integration of youth hasn’t been as structured and seamless as at Stellenbosch United. “At Stellies, the youngsters are mushrooming left, right and centre, playing productively because the team has direction.
“You bring in youth when the team is winning. Mofokeng is playing for a performing Pirates. When I started at Chiefs, there was ‘Waga Waga’ [Leonard Likoebe]. I would come in for him as a sub and gradually grew into the team. You can’t ask youngsters to carry the burden by themselves,” he said.
Added Stylianou: “Youngsters are expensive, they cost you games because they still got to go through the learning curve. If you want youngsters, you must kiss trophies goodbye. If you see you can’t win the league or qualify for Africa, then you can play youngsters because they get six games or seven games towards the end of the season. I believe in experience.”
The threat of finishing outside the top eight bracket, a fate that befell Chiefs in 2007 and 2019, is alive. “I respect the family. They need to ask themselves what needs to be done. As a technical director you’ve got to ask yourself what is success. The coach and players owe the club and Motaung an apology. It hasn’t been good. It’s no reason to point fingers. A professionally run club, well fed, well paid, the history is there.
How Chiefs react to the ramshackle state cannot be confined only to changing the coach.
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