What the Siya crew has been told…

In January, the Siya crew reported that Gavin Hunt was managing a complex Kaizer Chiefs dressing room. Siya sources had indicated that the serial-winning coach was juggling between getting the Glamour Boys on track to climbing up the DStv Premiership table and dealing with ill-disciplined players.

This is very often a recipe for disaster. And it’s proven to be the case as no less than two months later, Chiefs find themselves outside the Top 8 bracket and on their way to a sixth straight year without a trophy!

While the players must shoulder some of the responsibility, Hunt’s head is on the chopping block, with insiders informing the Siya crew that the club’s hierarchy might not be as patient as initially thought.

Hunt, it is believed, was asked to find a different approach to handling the dressing room rather than his hairdryer approach. Comments made in the media about how average the squad was were not well-received by both management and the players.

For Hunt, the end of the FIFA ban couldn’t come soon enough, but what Siya sources have described as his oversight is the fact that the coach still has to get the best out of the same players that he is criticising, at least until the end of May.

Chiefs appointed Hunt in September last year with much fanfare – after all, he has won four league titles with two different teams and comes highly recommended with a glowing CV. It’s understood that his bosses were more than happy to be lenient on expectations and mandates to win silverware given the club’s situation with the FIFA ban as Hunt was forced to inherit Ernst Middendorp’s squad.

But that was early on in the season – only a month into the 2020/21 campaign to be exact – so, very few would have predicted that Chiefs would capitulate and that the wheels would come off so spectacularly.

The same squad lost out on the league title under Middendorp on the final day of the 2019/20 season to Mamelodi Sundowns, who were crowned champions.

Hunt has struggled to build on that respectable finish.

Now, about 10 players are still waiting on Chiefs’ decision over their futures and a full squad report is only expected when the curtain comes down on yet another Premier Soccer League campaign in May.

Hunt, however, has not minced his words about his desire to ring the changes and has revealed that he’s got a list of targets “longer than my arm”. It’s these sort of remarks that insiders say have led to a potential dressing room upheaval, with several players unsure where they fit in the coach’s plans for the future or whether they will feature at all.

Despite the club being ready to rebuild the squad when the FIFA ban is lifted, a major concern for Hunt though is that he might not be the coach overseeing all the expected changes in the coming months.

Siya sources have indicated that Hunt is running out of time!