THE SLIPPERY SLOPE
BLAME GAME: KOMPHELA HITS OUT AT SOCIAL MEDIA
Fans want Chiefs to give them a present by sacking the coach.
Steve Komphela is seen as the Grinch who stole Christmas by some Kaizer Chiefs fans, who feel he has stolen enough of their joy and it is time for him to pack up and leave.
As things stand right now, it seems a section of Amakhosi fans can only have a joyous festive break if the club’s management were to announce Komphela’s dismissal.
For the two-and-a-half years Komphela has been coach, the Glamour Boys have lost all their shine as they have huffed and puffed to no avail as the results have not been coming.
At times, like at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth, the team have given promising performances but the end result was not there.
After Wednesday’s 1-0 defeat to Chippa United, Komphela could not come up with the reasons – he prefers to call it reasons and not excuses – and blamed social media for destroying his players’ confidence.
“Unfortunately we are living in an era of social media where everything is there for everyone to see. At the end of the game, the players go out and check what’s being said. If a player has missed chances, they call him all kinds of hurtful names.
“That is obviously going to affect that player emotionally and mentally and he will not be the same player in the next match in terms of trying to score. He will probably not want to get into a position where he will expose himself because if he fails again he will face abuse,” said Komphela.
“That happens when you are in a leadership position. In any position, when things are not working out, the one in charge becomes a point of reference and you have to accept that when you are in a leadership position,” he said.
The 50-year-old mentor took comfort from the fact that the players still look committed to the cause. “The beauty of this is that the players are still working and applying themselves which is obviously a good thing,” he said.
Komphela will have to get his players fit and ready for another tough match as they visit Platinum Stars in Rustenburg tomorrow afternoon. Roger de Sa’s Stars earned a morale-boosting 1-0 win at Polokwane City in midweek.