Cape Town - Kaizer Chiefs are getting their just desserts as they continue to play ‘housie-housie’ with the iconic club by allowing the chairman’s family to occupy strategic positions in the day-to-day running of the organisation.
On Sunday, Chiefs suffered a 1-0 defeat to a very ordinary Sekhukhune United side. Without the usual penalty or opposition red card, Chiefs slumped to defeat after a four-match unbeaten streak in the Premiership.
During this fruitful Premiership streak, Chiefs either won after a penalty proved decisive or they were advantaged by playing against 10-man opposition teams. This occurrence prompted coach Steve Barker to remark, “Chiefs must be practising against 10-man opposition”, after his side suffered a red card and a penalty in a 2-1 defeat.
Sunday’s loss prompted an outcry from the Amakhosi faithful, and a match review on a football website was topped by the headline: “Chiefs are nothing without penalties and red cards!”
It is doubtful Chiefs would have made this four-match unbeaten streak without the benefit of penalties and/or opposition red cards. During this time, the match-winning performances were mediocre and the club’s hierarchy should have acted on the red flags.
Even more disconcerting for their supporters are the results of Chiefs’ Diski Challenge team.
On Sunday, Chiefs Reserves were handed a right royal pasting in Stellenbosch in a crushing 5-2 defeat. A few days earlier, Chiefs’ Under-23s were hammered 6-3 by TS Galaxy U23.
These results do not point to a bright future for the club because the reserve team does not inspire confidence.
It must also be noted that Chiefs have bought a few players from Stellenbosch in the past few months. Stellenbosch have promoted several players from their Diski ranks into the Premiership team with great success.
Whereas Stellenbosch has called in experts such as Brazilian Jose Cabral to head up the club’s structures – he has since returned to Brazil – and guide the fortunes of the academy players, Chiefs named former player Kaizer Motaung Jr as their sporting director in July 2021.
Motaung Jr has no prior experience in the position and anything he has learnt over the past two years will be at the expense of the club’s well-being.
Mamelodi Sundowns have the vastly-experienced Dane, Flemming Berg as their sporting director.
These are examples Chiefs should follow.
Motaung Jr has been in the news of late because he reacted to comments by a former player, Daniel Cardoso, who said the current Amakhosi squad is not strong enough to win a title.
Motaung Jr’s time would have been better spent working on ways and means of making Chiefs a stronger team. That is what sporting directors do, rather than shoot down comments that are depressing but true. As it turned out, Cardoso has helped Sekhukhune United defeat Chiefs twice this season.
And then there is Bobby Motaung, another son of the chairman. He is the team manager, and affectionately known as “BobSteak” in football circles.
He occupies a post that wasn’t advertised so that Chiefs could appoint a person who had proper credentials. He is not too often quoted in the media, but during the tenure of coaches Gavin Hunt and Ernst Middendorp it became apparent that the head coaches were not always making decisions in their areas of responsibility.
Decisions that should have been left to the coaches were made by others, although Hunt and Middendorp were reluctant to say who was making these decisions.
Chiefs have gone six seasons without a trophy, and it will go on even longer if they do not stop handing jobs to family members.
@Herman_Gibbs