Kaizer Chiefs Football Manager Bobby Motaung has explained that he hasn’t stepped aside from the management side at the club however he’s more of a supportive elder to the current leadership.
Motaung has for a long time been the Football Manager at the club responsible for signing of players and hiring of coaches among his duties.
Speaking on Marawa Sports Worldwide on Wednesday Motaung said he could never step aside from the club but acknowledges that the game has changed and so has the technology he’s there giving his support and experience.
“There’s certain things we can’t step aside from, the Chiefs legacy, the chairman’s legacy,” said Motaung.
“I’m part of the family. I’m part of the organisation. I’m serving the organisation. We’re serving. The game has grown. The challenges have grown. There’s more hands in the game.
“There are more technical issues happening. There are more dynamics. There are more new technologies. Things are happening.
“The game has grown, but you give a chance to change and to grow, old school is there, but remember, there’s new things happening, technology and others.
“So my focus is more about giving back with experience and supporting the new generation. And I think the new generation, for them to learn and to know, it takes a bit of experience.
“Experience you only gain when you go through thick and thin, but I’m there as the elder one. I’m there through and through. I’ll never depart. I’ll never be away. I’m part of the system.”
‘We used to go to the bush, but the game has changed’
Motaung added that titles do not matter that much to him over structural protocols and that the leadership has a lot of respect for each other and change as well.
“Titles are titles, but if you’re in the game of football, I can be a goalkeeper, I can be a striker tomorrow, I can be a coach but the issue is respect of protocols and titles that are happening now and everything,” he added.
“But I think, as a family and as an organisation, we respect each other. We respect challenges that are there, and we respect the growth. I mean the Sporting Director roles now have to follow certain protocols but we work together.
“We are together and one thing I’ll tell people, and I’ll tell South Africans, and I’ll tell Kaizer Chiefs supporters that I’m within the thick and thin of things. It’s not that when things are tough, I’m going to hide away. I’m there with experience. I’m there it’s just that the roles have changed because of the dynamics of the growth of the business.
“You know where I come from, people used to think I sign this, I do this. So it’s not me now. There’s a scouting structure. There’s structural developments that are happening. There are structural growth, there are dynamics. Things are happening the game is grown.
“I mean, you need Sport Science now. You need analysts. For me to recommend a player now I must put him on AI and then maybe he becomes the best player.
“Before we used to go to the bush, but I think the game has changed. You must also understand that technology has also changed. So the team has grown.”