Hunt proves it takes time to produce winners

One thing caught my attention when Gavin Hunt was speaking this week after his Bidvest Wits team had clinched the Absa Premiership title with a game to spare.

The veteran mentor said when he arrived at the club just over three years ago, he wasn’t happy with the squad. He immediately knew he wouldn’t win anything with those players.

It has taken Hunt four years to get it right. Winning the league especially is a process that needs proper planning. Every coach will need to have his own players – players who understand him and vice-versa – in order to win the league.

Go to any league in the world, if there is no spark between the coach and players, success is very difficult to come by. Quick example – look at Maritzburg United. An inexperienced coach like Fadlu Davids is working wonders. Why? He has been there for a long time as assistant coach and almost all the players understand him. They want to play for him.

Of course he didn’t say this when he got there, that would have been grossly unprofessional of him. But there is a lesson to be learnt there, especially for fans of the “Big Three” who always jump the gun when it comes to coaches.

Kjell Jonevret hasn’t been at Pirates for more than six months yet there are fans who already doubt

Sibongiseni Gumbi

if he can turn things around. The Swede is making do with players he found there and has been fair in giving almost everyone a chance to prove themselves.

He is trying his best to win the players over, to make them believe in him and themselves again. Although Oupa Manyisa has not got back to his best yet, he has been playing better than he has in a long time since Jonevret arrived.

He has also revitalised crowd favourite Thabo Rakhale who is slowly getting his confidence back.

But Jonevret is yet to experience the sting of fans’ criticism. He will get a rude awakening when he names the players he wishes to let go of to make space for new faces.

His predecessor Muhsin Ertugral was in the fans’ bad books when he released players before the start of this season – some of who were fan favourites like Sifiso Myeni.

I hope the fans will be more understanding this time around and allow him to make his decisions and get the players he feels can do the job for him and who he can trust. But the unfortunate part for him is that he will not have the luxury to build the team at his own pace as results will be required especially since the team are celebrating their 80th birthday this year. A cup or two are needed to make the momentous occasion even more memorable.

He would do himself a huge favour by winning the Nedbank Cup. That would ease the anxiety of the fans a little and give him time to work on the team, especially now that it looks unlikely they will feature in next season’s MTN8.

Building a winning team takes time. Hunt has proved that once more. Congratulations to him on his two trophies this season.