Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro reveals his satisfaction with the club's supporters returning to the stadium in numbers after a period of absence from the Buccaneers' games.
Riveiro has entered his third season as Bucs coach.
In these three seasons, a lot has changed, particularly the fact that the club has managed to win five trophies under the Spanish tactician. But perhaps the most significant change for the Soweto giants has been the return of the club's fans to the stadium.
Riveiro has noted with great pleasure how an increase in the team's performances has led to a direct increase in the number of supporters at the club's hallowed Orlando Stadium.
"When I go back to my first time here as a head coach, the first thing that shocked me, as a coach not as a human being, was the lack of our people in the stadium when the season started. We are a giant, we have a huge fan base behind us, but the stadium was empty," he told Pirates' media department.
"There were maybe 5000 – 6000. Thank you to those ones for coming, but it's not that we had a small crowd. It was also that people were not really supporting us. There was no patience with the players and they were put under pressure after every single mistake. It seems that the people were really anxious to see us performing. They really want the team to succeed and the moment they see that it's not happening, it was tough.
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"After 25 or 30 minutes people behind the bench [would signal for a player to be changed], it's not happening anymore. Now, the stadium is full, it was packed in the last game. Even in the [CAF] Champions League game against Disciples, if I compare it to one year ago when we played against Djabal in the first preliminary round of the Champions League, there were maybe 2000 spectators. I think this time around we managed to get 15 000 – 16 000. The stadium was full against SuperSport [United], full against Cape Town City. They were supporting, singing, dancing, playing the game with us.
"I know the club wants titles, the fans want medals and stuff – but for me it's a huge achievement to invite people to the stadium, although they were always there."
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