Kaizer Chiefs were caught with their pants down in their efforts to revolutionize their technical team ahead of the 2023/24 DStv Premiership season! The recent announcement of former Bafana Bafana head coach, Molefi Ntseki, taking over from Arthur Zwane is definitely not what the Naturena-based club was looking for! There was an even bigger plan for the new campaign, but when you don't get what you need, you make the most of what you have. If anyone believes having coach Ntseki take over form Mangethe was the team's plan, shame on you!
One thing is for sure, Chiefs knew even before the end of last season that Mangethe's days in the hotseat were numbered! They may not all have been on the same page, but it was inevitable that a new sheriff would be in town for the mammoth task of awakening this sleeping giant of South African football. What did they do about it? Slept on the job – yes, I said it! Someone slept on the job of ensuring the wheels of change were set in motion even before the season finished. You can't still be negotiating contracts when your team reports for pre-season training, no matter how much time you still have ahead of the season kick-off. You want to go to your pre-season training or camp having agreed on everything with the new coach and getting everyone's buy-in to his philosophy, cross the t's and dot the i's.
A couple of names were bandied about as possible replacements for Zwane and for a team of Chiefs' stature, the whole process should have been completed before they even went on recess. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that there was not enough foresight on the matter. This is the very same Chiefs that showed a lot of grit and foresight when they were slapped with a FIFA transfer window ban and couldn't register any players for two transfer window periods. That never stopped them from getting some of their players because they were so astute in their approach, as nothing legally stopped them from signing players. It was only registering them that was prohibited, but Amakhosi handled the situation with aplomb. Why was the same energy not prevalent this time around, in their search for a head coach while Mangethe was finishing his maiden unsuccessful season?
One would think there would be enough effort to go to the off-season having secured the head coach of their choice, so that they can even discuss new signings and everything that comes with a new coach. However, it was life as usual with the team making signings while in search of a new coach, who might have arrived and deemed some of those signings surplus to requirements! Talk about repeating the same mistake and hoping for different outcomes!
Who took the players through their paces for the first week of their pre-season training, where they were undergoing medicals and finding their feet after a month-long break? Remember, the team was still busy trying to tie the loose ends with former Young African coach Nasreddine Nabi, whose much-publicised move to Naturena collapsed right at the end. After impressive performances in Tanzania, the Tunisian tactician was bound to be head-hunted and this looked to be a match made in heaven. Nabi won six trophies with Yanga FC and, considering Amakhosi's almost decade-long trophy drought, it made perfect sense to go after his services. Media reports claim that the deal was almost over the line for the 57-year-old to take over from Mangethe until the two parties couldn't find each other on the technical team arrangement. What put the spanner in the works, it is alleged, was that coach Nabi wanted to bring his own people, which is a growing phenomenon in football because coaches want to work with people they can trust rather than making new 'friends' as they go along. If Amakhosi had acceded to his request/demand, then they would have to relegate coach Zwane back to the development and forget about the investment of making him the senior coach this past season.
There was also the issue of coach Manqoba Mngqithi, who was also heavily linked with the Soweto giants. Word doing the rounds, for some time now, has been that part of coach Rhulani Mokwena signing a new four-year contract extension with Sundowns was that he would make changes to his technical team. Changes that would do away completely with the 'group project coaching arrangement' as he was going to run the team solo. His two 'assistants', Manqoba and Steve, were said to be on the verge of being affected by the changes and that coach Steve is now a Swallows FC head coach is something you can make of whatever you want. The question then becomes, what happened with coach Manqoba and Chiefs? Those who claim to be in the know believe that horse has not bolted, not yet and not by any chance! In fact, it is believed that coach Manqoba was not out of the race until Friday last week, which means he could have been announced as the new man in charge at Naturena to work alongside Mangethe. People claiming to be privy to the behind-the-scenes dealings have it that had it not been for the good relationship coach Manqoba has with his current club, coupled with the Brazilians' decision to activate their option to extend his stay for another season last Friday, coach Manqoba could have met Jola (Steve Komphela) at the exit door at Chloorkop and can you just imagine if this was to be the case? Wouldn't that have changed the face of the next campaign even before it started?
Now, Amakhosi found themselves in a catch-22 because, it is claimed, they wanted to reinforce their technical team with experience without meddling with the work done in their youth development ranks since coach Ntseki's appointment. It has also been mentioned that the idea was to keep Mangethe in the senior technical team, but coach Nabi's demands made life uncomfortable and counter-productive to the club's plans. Then Sundowns decided to activate the clause to extend coach Manqoba's stay and that meant the team's top two candidates were now out of the picture, with pre-season already underway. Do they keep Mangethe in charge for another season? NO was the answer! The next best thing to do, to maintain stability, was to look internally so as to not upset the applecart. Whether you want to believe it or not, it will happen or not, rumour has it that Amakhosi are not done with their technical team yet. It is alleged that what happened this off-season is not the end of the world and the Glamour Boys are not giving up on their candidate, whether it is Mngqithi or Nabi. Watch this space!
Cheers,
VeeJay
