Tsamaya

This week’s soccer buzz

● Players of cash-strapped Bloemfontein Celtic have a beef with their boss, Max Tshabalala. They are miffed that he has failed to pay their salaries for the umpteenth time. Instead of cutting his players some slack, Tshabalala decided to beef up his sponsorship with a new sleeve sponsor, Sparta, which is, by a nice coincidence, a beef company based in the Free State. No doubt the players will get the rump end of this meaty deal.

● Bidvest Wits were such a jumble sale of wrong ideas last season that coach Gavin Hunt, displeased with the dispirited display, decided to dispense with nine of the dodos who flirted with relegation and finished in a lousy 11th position.

Hunt made wholesale changes, bringing in 11 new signings. Tsamaya couldn’t help but notice that Scottish striker Simon “Gingerbread” Murray bears a greater resemblance to a security guard ready to rumble with rioting Fees Must Fall students than with someone brought in to rattle the back of the net.

● Giovanni Solinas was not the firstchoice coach, but Kaizer Chiefs ended up settling for the man who had two spells with Free State Stars without any acclaim. His record? Transfermarket informs that in 98 games, his teams won 34 matches, drew 31, lost 33, scored 124 goals and conceded 132.

This is what legends are made of. #HeIsHere. #ItalianJobLoading. New dawn? May the force be with Kaizer Chiefs.

● Speaking ahead of Chiefs’ season opener against Mamelodi Sundowns, Solinas said: “I’m busy implementing my philosophy of football, which is attacking football. That takes time and that’s a reality. We have to be patient.” Clearly this chap doesn’t know that Amakhosi fans become destruction boys and breathe fire and brimstone when their patience wears thin.