Former Kaizer Chiefs interim coach Cavin Johnson has denied on what seemed like harsh words directed to him by goalkeeper Brandon Petersen, saying he encouraged his players to display emotion.
The alleged incident occurred after Chiefs’ 3-2 Soweto Derby defeat to fiercest nemesis Orlando Pirates at FNB Stadium back in March when it looked as if Petersen was remonstrating with Johnson after a video circulated on social media.
Amakhosi had twice taken the lead via strikes from pacy frontman Ashley du Preez’s brace in the sixth and 44th minutes but were pegged back by the Buccaneers who went on to claim the bragging rights through Monnapule Saleng’s two goals and derby debutant Thabiso Lebitso.
The former SuperSport United mentor has since described the incident as being taken out of proportion.
“A picture tells a thousand words,” Johnson said On The Whistle Podcast.
“And the picture that was painted on that particular day [Soweto Derby], was like we were going on each other, but it was nothing.
“And honestly, the light is shining above my head. Like we would say in the old days, and the lightning can strike. I’m telling you the truth. Nothing happened.
“And in the end, I had to explain to a lot of other journalists who I am as a coach.
“And when we are in 90 minutes, things can change a lot. You know it. Zayn [Nabbi] knows it, you’ve been football players.
“And in one moment I want that type of interaction with my players. And the talk was all about, ‘Coach, they are not holding the ball. We were leading the game’. I think that was it.
“We were leading the game and we want to win the game. And one of the players made a mistake. And I said, and he got up and said, ‘But coach they’re not doing the right thing’. And I said, ‘It’s fine, don’t worry just sit down’. You get what I’m saying.
“But I encourage. I encourage my players to do that because of our bench—the way the bench is set up.
“If you look at the bench in England, you look at the bench in Spain, they never sit next to the coach. They always sit behind him. That’s how they set their bench up.
“So, in front is all the technical people, whereas in South Africa, it’s just one long line. So you know what I’m saying? There’s no divide which we don’t have in South Africa.
“But, in all of that, I am someone or I am a head coach who likes interaction with my players.”
“And fortunately or unfortunately, because of the social media gap, because of the social media that we have in today’s football, you need to be aware of what that shows the general public,” he further added.
“There was nothing! There was absolutely nothing that happened on that day that he made that he looked like he was fighting, but he was not fighting.
“He was really, really not fighting and I can protect him in front of any court of law and he can protect me because there was nothing.”
After returning to his Head of Youth role following his brief stint in the first team, Johnson and Chiefs parted ways after a new technical team was roped in.
