What the Siya crew has been told…

All eyes are on Kaizer Chiefs management with regards to the club’s next coaching appointment.

Seven coaches in eight years paints a gloomy picture for one of the country’s biggest clubs, renowned for winning cups. Instead of silverware, the club’s trophy cabinet has been gathering dust with Stuart Baxter’s 2014/15 league title the last to grace the Glamour Boys’ bulging cabinet. Something needs to change. Last month, Soccer Laduma broke the news that Molefi Ntseki would be leaving the club after just four months in charge, which the club later confirmed. The Soweto giants, as they did with their previous appointment, announced a temporary measure put in place to steady the ship in the form of the experienced Cavin Johnson. But the search for a permanent coach is far from over with the club narrowing down their criteria.

The Siya crew has since been informed by well-placed sources that the club’s top brass have prioritised a ‘high-profile’ coach that can restore the club’s glory days. The source further explained that the said coach, in addition to delivering consistent results, would have to command the team both on and off the field with a personality that matches that of the Naturena outfit. More importantly, the coach would have to appease the club’s fans, who play a crucial role in deciding who occupies the hot seat.

Chiefs’ latest demands do come with a few challenges, which are:

1. ‘High-profile’ coaches, by their very nature, are hardly available. These are often coaches, most of whom are comfortable in their current clubs, that are tied up in contracts, thus narrowing down Amakhosi’s list of possible candidates.

2. It may come at a cost to the Soweto giants. While high-profile mentors often bring success to a club, they seldom come cheap! The more accolades a coach adds to his profile, the more expensive he becomes. In addition to the hefty salaries demanded by these coaches, because most of them are tied up in contracts, it means that Amakhosi would more than likely have to negotiate a transfer fee for a coach that is currently under contract.

Although a high-profile coach is something that the club has prioritised, they will be mindful of additional elements around the coach, such as the right technical team, as these coaches often come with their own backroom staff and, more importantly, furnishing the coach with quality players that are capable of competing for honours.

So far, Micho Sredojevic, Nasreddine Nabi, Manqoba Mngqithi, Pitso Mosimane, Mano Menezes, Muhsin Ertugral, Herve Renard, Raul Caneda and Luc Eymael have all been linked to the job.

A second independent source has informed this publication that Chiefs have already started sounding out potential candidates with informal talks.

Of the coaches that have been linked with the club, management are understood to have had informal talks with the camps of both Nabi as well as Mngqithi, both of whom fall within the club’s criteria of ‘high-profile’ coaches.

Amakhosi are understood to have engaged Mngqithi prior to the start of the 2023/24 season. At the time, the coach’s contract with Mamelodi Sundowns was set to expire. However, as is the norm at the Brazilians, in May the club opted to exercise the option on his deal for a further year, keeping him at Chloorkop until at least 2024.

The 52-year-old is fast approaching the final six months of his contract with the side and, according to Siya sources, would be open to making the move to Naturena if the offer is right.

Similarly, the Soweto giants, as reported by Soccer Laduma, were in talks with Nabi’s camp over possibly making the move to the Village. However, despite the coach turning down a new and improved deal from Young Africans in favour of Mzansi’s most-supported side, talks between the two parties stalled, which saw the club turn to Ntseki, while Nabi penned a twoyear deal with Morocco’s AS FAR.