This is a failed assignment by the experienced coach given to Arthur Zwane at Kaizer Chiefs in July 2022. ALSO READ: Folz is a better coach than Benni McCarthy, says AmaZulu boss Sandile Zungu. has been sleeping for seven years. The leaders have gone an unprecedented seven years without a trophy. Considering that this is the team that holds the record for the most trophies in local professional football, this is dangerous. It must be stopped immediately. Mudslide at Naturena started with Steve Komphela who…
This is a task that the experienced coach has failed to do given to Arthur Zwane at Kaizer Chiefs in July 2022.
READ ALSO: Folz is a better coach than Benni McCarthy, says AmaZulu boss Sandile Zungu
It was a task to awaken a giant who had been sleeping for seven years. The leaders have gone an unprecedented seven years without a trophy.
Considering that this is the team that holds the record for the most trophies in local professional football, this is dangerous.
It must be stopped immediately. The mudslide at Naturena started with Steve Komphela who became the first black coach to be appointed head coach at Chiefs in modern times.
Before the appointment, club chairman Kaizer Motaung had made an alarming statement that no black coach could do well at the club.
This is an unfortunate statement from Motaung. Komphela’s appointment is a revolution in Naturena.
Change of heart
In Komphela’s three years there, he could not win anything. He inherited a team that won the double the previous season under Stuart Baxter.
However, his job is to dismantle what Baxter has built because when his team wins, he doesn’t play the ‘Kaizer Chiefs way’.
Komphela didn’t completely destroy Baxter’s team and it probably cost him. They try to change their philosophy and playing style by using the same players.
For three years it looked promising at times but it never worked. He kept telling his supporters to trust the process but eventually gave up.
Komphela had to be escorted out of the Moses Mabhida Stadium by police after losing the Nedbank Cup semi-final to the Free State Stars in Durban. He quit after that incident.
Italian tactician John Solinas there is next. He brought a new confidence to the team and he played energetic football.
But the cracks started when the senior players started complaining that they were running on empty tactics. Solinas was fired after only five months on the job.
The effect of covid
Ernst Middendorp was then roped in for a second stint as Chiefs beachhead coach. Some still believe that had it not been for the Covid-19 outbreak that delayed the completion of the league, they would have won the 2019/20 season.
The Middendorp Chiefs had led by a healthy margin when the game was stopped for the restart three months later in the Bio-Bubble.
He lost the title to Mamelodi Sundowns on the last day of the season. He was then dismissed by supporters who were not happy with how he lost and his style of football.
The club then controversially brought in Baxter. He started off on a bad note as he forced himself into the team for the Caf Champions League final.
The supporters did not like how they took the glory from Zwane, who had been a stand-in coach at the time. He felt Baxter should wait until next season to begin his work.
He was also eight months later because he couldn’t change for the better. A new era was anticipated when Chiefs hired Gavin Hunt who came with the best record of any coach before him at Chiefs.
Hunt has won the league four times – three with SuperSport United and one with Bidvest Wits. Hunt was brave and brought much needed change in terms of player personnel at Chiefs.
However, they were hampered by the club’s transfer ban in place at the time and were unable to bring in the players they wanted.
He dared to let go of some of the old guard and wanted to rebuild the team with new players. Clashes of ideas and an unworkable relationship with management led to the initial release in just eight months of work.
‘10111’ Savior
That’s when Zwane entered. His dramatic introduction to the club made a video of him being escorted by the police to come and save the team.
He plays under the moniker ‘10111’. He said his immediate task was to change the direction the team had taken under the previous two coaches.
Baxter and Hunt apparently don’t play ‘the Kaizer Chiefs way’. He had an indifferent start with the team stopping and starting under his tutelage.
Some feel he is out of depth. One of them is former Chiefs star Junior Khanye who doesn’t mince his words in criticism.
“I am glad that I have been proven right about some of the things I said,” Khanye said in an interview recently.
“I said when the season started that Arthur had no experience as a coach for a big club like Chiefs.
“Scouting will be an ideal position for him, having worked with the club’s juniors and understanding what it takes for a player to play for the Chiefs from an early age.
“The manager hasn’t won a trophy for over six years and the expectations are high for the club to win and you can’t expect an inexperienced coach to achieve it.
But Zwane is adamant that he has the money and is cooking up something that his supporters will love in the end.
“There is pressure at Kaizer Chiefs – whether you win or lose. But that’s part of the game. I’m still going to panic. I’ll keep working hard. God will also answer our prayers,” Zwane said on Saturday after another defeat.