Kaizer Chiefs Sporting Director Kaizer Motaung Jr. admits that they are fully aware of what their supporters want – which isn’t talking about building foundations and processes.
The Amakhosi faithful have been up in arms since their 3-2 defeat against Golden Arrows at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Sunday, with sections of their support base believing the project with Arthur Zwane at the helm will bear no fruits over the three-year contract.
While some are still backing the vision, which is said to be built on the development of homegrown talent and playing ‘the Kaizer Chiefs way’ and not the ‘helicopter’ football of his predecessors as the supporters often labeled it.
But during this season of inconsistent results, where they have failed to win more than three consecutive games all campaign, this publication probed the ‘SD’ on whether they feel there’s enough experience to overcome this rising pressure from the stands and beyond.
“If I had to ask you what is experience, anyone that has experienced has got it by doing their job, so I think, we are… as management, from the board of directors to the Chairman, we’ve given a young coach an opportunity at the helm,” Motaung Jnr. said in response to iDiski Times at the Vodacom Soweto Derby media event.
“And again from our side, it’s just to support him with the right resources, with the right players, and provide the right environment for him to succeed, I think just looking at the questions that are being asked, sitting in position five, it’s not where we want to be.
“Right now is the time to talk about positives because the fans want results – they want trophies and that is the objective, but at the end of the day, the technical staff is hard at work.
“They know the areas that they need to rectify and work on, they’re not sleeping, working tirelessly and making sure that they do.”
Cognizant of the negativity that might be thrown back at looking at the glass half full when in reality, a club of Chiefs’ magnitude should be challenging for silverware – Motaung Jnr. did heed the call when asked what he thought the positives are about the ‘Mangethe’ era thus far.
“The positives are going back to our culture of integrating our youth, that’s a massive component for us and something we will always continue to do moving forward,” he explained when asked by this website.
“Secondly, not enough is said about the brand of football we’re playing, yes there have been games in any situation where you see even Manchester City lost to Southampton. A team that’s bottom of the log.
“So for me, it’s a case of… we need to be objective and if we’re looking at the kind of football we’re playing like Itu [Khune] said earlier, there’s been a vast improvement, we’re on the ball, we’re attacking and that’s the kind of style we have planned to play for.
“And this youth project is close to our hearts, like Mduduzi, who can sit here after a good performance yesterday at a mere 18 years old, so I think we can’t put out the words process and [the] rebuild… because people at this moment in time don’t want to hear that.
“But we have to fix our situation and there’s a certain foundation that we have to work from and we’re trying to do that.”
Chiefs will be aiming to get their season back on track when they host Orlando Pirates in the Soweto Derby on Saturday afternoon at FNB Stadium (15h30).
