Former Kaizer Chiefs caretaker coach Cavin Johnson has admitted he’d probably not say yes to the interim position in the middle of the season again after analysing how things went.
Johnson, 65, was released by Chiefs after it was clear that he wouldn’t continue as head coach following the appointment of Nasreddine Nabi.
While it seemed as though Johnson would fall back into his previous position as Head of Academy, the former Platinum Stars and AmaZulu head coach has left the club.
He’s now discussed his stint at Naturena for the first time after his exit, admitting he “walked into a minefield” and it was wrong to take the job in the middle of the season.
“I do think that in one moment the SOS call was too premature for me and if I could do it again I would say no,” he explained on the On The Whistle Podcast.
“The fact that the chairman called me and he asked me [to be the coach].
“If it only it went back to what I thought I did previously did with Platinum Stars, with AmaZulu, I thought that ‘look, if you go with the same mentality and the same effort that you used at other teams it would work’.
“The culture at the team is very different to any other PSL team, because the chairman Dr. [Kaizer Motaung] has built such a big institution over the years, you have to start from the beginning [of the season], I believe that now.
“Like I say, it’s easy to say ‘I believe that now’. Give me the job now, at the beginning of the season and I’ll tell you exactly what to do and to don’t do at Kaizer Chiefs.
“Because I’ve acclimatised myself with who they are inside and then it would be successful. But if you took it like I did then exactly what you said – you’re walking into a minefield and you don’t know where the bombs are.”
Johnson, who was initially appointed as Head of Academy but took over reins after just one month following the exit of Molefi Ntseki, was in charge of 22 games, winning six matches, drawing seven and losing nine.
After a run of just one win in the last 11 league games of 2023.24, Chiefs ended up in 10th position – their worst in Premier Soccer League history.
