Kaizer Chiefs coach Arthur Zwane has opened up on the praise from the club’s supporters with many suggesting he should be the next head coach at the Soweto giants.
Zwane has been at Chiefs for over a decade since hanging up his boots, working within the development structures before his promotion to the first team set-up, doubling up in the DStv Diski Challenge squad.
However, he tasted action as the senior head coach on an interim basis on a few occasions after the sacking of Gavin Hunt last season whilst Stuart Baxter awaited his necessary paperwork while this season the Covid-19 outbreak saw Zwane step in once again.
There have been suggestions from sections of supporters that he deserves a chance to lead Amakhosi due to his connection with the club’s youngsters that are edging closer to the first-team while he also played a crucial role towards their CAF Champions League final run in the 2020/21 campaign.
“Before I became a coach, I’m a human being, what I’ve learnt is to be humble when things go your way, keep your feet on the ground and still be that person people respect and love,” Zwane said after the 2-0 win over Maritzburg United.
“When I joined Kaizer Chiefs as a player, one thing they taught me was love and peace as you know it’s a slogan of the club. So we had to practice that as players, that’s one of the things I usually preach about to the youngsters.Â
“When things are rosy for you, just be humble, show respect, don’t look down on other people. Because this is one game that can be cruel at times. There are times that things won’t go your way and what you could have said in the past are the things that can come back and haunt you.”
While ‘10111’ opted to remain humble in the widespread praise he also maintained that he alone cannot take credit for the entire staff’s work when they secure results for the supporters.
“You try by all means, even when you get credit from people, you must always remember it’s not about you, it’s about the team because it’s a team with technical staff members that also contribute, it’s not about Arthur Zwane,” he explained.
“Yes people can say Arthur Zwane, but the fact remains there are others that are making our life easy as coaches. The marketing team, people cutting the grass and cleaning at the village.
“We have people who are cooking, a lot of people – those people make our life easy. Can you imagine life without them? We appreciate them and they appreciate us.
“That’s why it’s key for us when we are given this type of platform, we also have to mention how we love and appreciate them.”
Chiefs finished 2021 in fourth place in the DStv Premiership and are awaiting the outcome of the appeal to the fixtures they failed to honour during the Covid outbreak at the Village this month.
