Former Kaizer Chiefs head coach Molefi Ntseki has broken his silence on his exit from Amakhosi, thanking the club for giving him a chance.
Ntseki was only in charge of 13 games during a stint that lasted from 1 July until 23 October and saw him win just four matches, while losing six.
After Chiefs were knocked out of the Carling Knockout Cup, and following multiple fan attacks on the coach from the stands, the Amakhosi leadership opted to part ways with the former Bafana Bafana coach.
Ntseki has now for the first time discussed his stint at Chiefs in an exclusive interview with iDiski Times, saying it was a privilege for him to work as head coach, even though he might not have expected it.
“The first thing that one can say about it is that I really appreciate the club taking or making that bold decision to say ‘we’ve been working with this man, these are the qualities that this man can bring to the club’,” he told iDiski Times in edition 129.
“I think the club, the chairman in particular, has worked with so many coaches before and in him making that decision with the board and with the technical committee, it was a decision based on my qualities that they have seen.
“And when you look at my appointment that is why I will always make reference to my appointment with SAFA. With SAFA I was with coach Stuart [Baxter] and with SAFA I was appointed to take over as head coach. I could not say no because I think I had acquired enough information and knowledge for me to implement.
“So having been at Kaizer Chiefs for the past two years as Head of Technical I think when the club approached me to say ‘we have a situation and we want you to come in and help’, I could not say no. It was more of a privilege for me to be appointed as head coach at Kaizer Chiefs.
“As much as I did not see it coming, as much as it was announced in a very short period of time before we left for the pre-season I took it upon myself to say ‘let me do my best because they believe in me’.
“So when it comes to the pre-season the expectation was for me to hit the ground running. Not necessarily me but I think in this case me because the expectation from the supporters and everybody that is associated with the club, is for Chiefs to appoint a top coach and a top coach who is going to win us games and a top coach coming to win trophies.
“But in this case, you have Molefi who has been a Head of Technical being appointed as the head coach. So obviously the expectations were not for that to happen but because the club had, I’d say a way of doing it for various reasons, yes, I was appointed the head coach, and it is always very difficult when you are in the rebuilding phase.”
