Cape Town City
Can they pull off a Leicester City?
In just six months, Cape Town City turned themselves from a dodgy offseason buyout transaction to already the football story of the season. Defying odds and slaying giants along the way, the new Cape Town noisy neighbours have taken the Cape and the Premier Soccer League by storm. There’s a defeaning silence from their critics, but are they making loud calls to do the unthinkable and lift the Absa Premiership?
Cape Town Stadium’s Conference Room A was packed to capacity, abuzz with excitement and expectation. Med Media, distinguished guests and offici officials from across the Mother City gath gathered in anticipation, the chitterchatt chatter mostly a guessing game as to w what name would be revealed behi behind the silk curtain covering a large canvas at the front that was abou about to be unfurled. The date was 29 JuneJu 2016, the day flamboyant and a ambitions businessman John Com Comitis announced the birth of Cape Town City FC. It w was a shrewed move, the name pullin pulling the heartstrings of the yester- year supporters who remembered the club with the same name that campaigned so successfully in the 1970s. True to its manifesto, the club appealed to “the Cape Town boytchees in their vests, the pretty girls on their pecs, the hippies, hip-hoppers and the hispters; the suburban moms and ghetto dads”. Derisory snickering followed, but the last laugh was reserved for The Citizens. Seated to the right of the auditorium entrance, donning flashy new snap-backs (caps) they had just been hastily handed, were 14 members of the previous season’s Mpumalanga Black Aces squad, meekly sitting in the background while their new boss held court. Comitis had relocated a side that
“WE PLAY FOR ONE ANOTHER, WE DIE FOR ONE ANOTHER.”
finished fourth the season before all the way from Gauteng to Cape Town, with only half the squad agreeing to make the move. But the switch wasn’t the worst thing for current captain Lebogang Manyama, whose knowledge of Cape Town from his previous incarnation at Ajax Cape Town must have assuaged fears for many of the newcomers. “It was a moment when certain decisions had to be taken, but there were 14 of us who stayed. We were very close from last season, and I thought this would be a new start, so why not?” he tells KICK OFF. “Since I’ve been here before, I knew I wouldn’t take long to adjust as I know Cape Town well. At the time it was something shocking, but we put our hearts into it, accepted the situation and we’ve moved on from that.” After the much-publicised launch and the hype was over, the hard work for City started. It didn’t take sceptics long to voice their doubts over their sustainability, let alone success. New players were needed, and fast, with less than two months before the new season began. Different trialists were spotted almost on a daily basis at the club’s training ground – an open field adjacent their new Cape Town Stadium home, which was often interrupted by boisterous dogs who had escaped their owner’s grasp while out for a walk. Players from far and wide were placed under the watchful eye of former Orlando Pirates coach Eric Tinkler, with the almost weekly “SIGNING ALERT” – often at ungodly hours of the morning – revealing via social media the acquisition of unknowns Roland Putsche, Matt Sim and James Brown, the latter two Australians having since left, as well as local castaways Tshepo Gumede, Robyn Johannes and Lehlohonolo Majoro. All the while, the gang of former Black Aces were also trying to settle in and establish themselves in their new home, including talented winger Aubrey Ngoma. “Firstly, I had to settle in myself,” the 27-year-old Ngoma recalls of the unexpected move. “I wasn’t given any responsibilities because that would come with a lot of pressure, so the chairman and the coaches allowed me to settle in and get used to the environment, and only then did we get the new guys to understand what the expectations of the team were. “I was then given that responsibility as one of the senior members in the team to guide the youngsters and lead the team in the right direction. “Looking at the crop of players that moved with the team from Aces, we still had some good players in the team, so we were hoping the technical team would reinforce where needed. And they brought in a lot of good, experienced players, and once we started playing pre-season games we saw we had a good team. As the remaining players, we just wanted to push on from last season and try and finish higher than we did.” The first test came on 23 August – the club’s maiden league game
at home to Polokwane City, in which former Black Aces pair Bhongolwethu Jayiya and Ngoma netted in each half to give The Citizens the perfect score to set the club’s history in motion. The following 1-0 victory in the MTN8 against Soweto giants Kaizer Chiefs then raised the country’s eyebrows. However, successive losses to Bidvest Wits and Lamontville Golden Arrows thereafter had many expectant fans turning their noses up at City’s dream start. Those scowls soon turned to surprised smiles as the PSL newboys conjured up the demise of previous provincial favourite Ajax with a 1-0 win in the first installment of the Cape derby. Fast-forward five months and Tinkler, well-aided by assistant Ian Taylor – a former assistant at Ajax – and former South African international Calvin Marlin as goalkeeper coach, experienced Craig Rosslee as technical director, and owner Comitis, led City to unthinkable heights. They lost just once in 15 games between October and mid-December, their hot-streak propelling them to the summit of the league standings and culminating in Telkom Knockout glory, just 144 days into their existence. So what has fueled City’s meteoric rise to joint-top of the Premiership standings alongside SuperSport United and Wits? “It all comes down to the one thing we’ve talked about the whole season, the one phrase we always use: collective effort,” skipper Manyama explains. “Everybody puts in their worth. Everyone has come in and done well – even those that haven’t played much have done well when they’ve been needed. It shows we are a team and we can only can get better. But we need to stay united and humble, and keep on working hard.” Ngoma agrees, describing the fighting spirit and unity in the newlyestablished set-up as an integral factor within the camp. “We play for one another, we die for one another and the players that don’t play are not grumpy or wear long faces – they keep supporting the players that are playing and when you go out, the next one comes in and does the same thing. Unity has been our main factor.” The whispers of three months ago have now become confident conversations, discussed by analysts, pundits and in various media circles regarding the possibility of City doing the unimaginable, and claiming the 2016/17 Absa Premiership crown. Manyama, though, refuses to look too far ahead. “We’ve already achieved some of the goals we had set for ourselves, one being to win a cup in our first season as Cape Town City, and I think we’ve exceeded our expectations,” he says. “But I don’t want to say we’re title challengers ... I don’t want to say that now, but eight games into this year, we’ll be able to determine where we are, and see if we can challenge or not. We are looking forward to the challenge. Now that people know what we can do, it’s only going to get harder for us.” Comparisons with the miraculous 2016 feat of Leicester City have already been drawn – not only in the
“TINKLER IS A WINNER AND HIS MENTALITY HAS RUBBED OFF ON PLAYERS.”
name – and Ngoma feels there’s no reason why South Africa’s ‘City’ can’t replicate The Foxes’ heroic league success. “When Leicester did that, they went many games without defeat,” he reasons. “And they didn’t have any individual stars ... it was always a team effort, and that’s what’s been key for us – we don’t have any individual brilliance, but always rely on team effort. And if we continue as we are playing and keep our feet on the ground, focus and work hard, anything can happen in football.” Right at the start of the new venture, former Bucs coach Tinkler was chosen by Comitis as the man to lead his new team. Having never lifted a trophy in the PSL, the exBidvest Wits assistant has made an immediate impact at City, receiving widespread praise from his charges. “Tinkler is a winner and his mentality has rubbed off on players,” Ngoma says. “You want to be coached by a coach who hates losing, and Eric is one of them. When we lose, we get angry – that’s all because of Eric. We play each game to win, and when we don’t, you see the players having a go at each other. He’s a great guy off the field, but when it’s time to work, he wants his players to do the job. “Tinkler always tells us to play without fear, and he brings a sense of calm – he’s a very calm guy off the pitch, and because he is relaxed, the players are then more relaxed,” Manyama adds. “He has belief in us, and is someone who we can learn from – he’s played in the top leagues in the world, at the highest level and for the national team, so he’s got experience as a player. And it’s very important as a player to have a coach like him as he knows what happens on the field – he’s been there before. I think he’s done really well for the team and for himself.” Despite still not having a functional website, no shirt sponsor, eating out the Comitisarranged Cape Town Greek club and using the boss’s business offices as their headquarters, City are happily riding along the coattails of their wealthy and visionary owner, who has almost single-handedly made the club what it is today. “I know John is very passionate about the game, and there were a lot of people keen to see what was going to happen to the team,” Manyama says. “And he’s done a really good job, building this team up to now. We came in with 14 good players, and the quality he added came with a lot of experience, mixed with youngsters with a whole lot of talent, along with the foreign players that have come in and done very well. Credit must go to the boss, and I think we’ve exceeded expectations – we knew we had to earn respect in the PSL, and I think we’ve done that.”