There is plenty at Chiefs that needs fixing
Steve Komphela is proving true the old adage that says one man’s meat is another’s poison, only in his case it is the other way round. Komphela was said to be the problem while at Kaizer Chiefs which ended up badly as supporters rioted, demanding that he vacate his seat. He duly obliged.
He had not even lodged his UIF claim when Bloemfontein Celtic came knocking, offering him the head coaching job. And what a move it has turned out to be. Celtic are currently second in the Absa Premiership.
Mind you, Steve is working with a team who do not have the same resources as Chiefs as the club are facing a financial crisis and the players have gone for months without their salaries be- ing paid. He also had to make do without influential defender Alfred Ndengane who had his contract terminated by mutual consent and has since joined Orlando Pirates.
Komphela remained a true professional throughout his troubled stay at Chiefs and never complained about anything although there were signs he was not entirely happy. Even after Itumeleng Khune said the players struggled to understand his methods, he still didn’t make a meal of it.
We can all learn a thing or two from Steve. But what I do not condone is not speaking up when you are dissatisfied – Komphela should have made it clear that the players he was given were not up to standard. Almost all the players who were signed under him
Sibongiseni Gumbi
have since been released.
There was always a general view that some of the players in that team did not deserve to be there because of their lack of quality. Khune spoke last weekend, conceding that perhaps there are players who are not worthy of wearing the famous gold and black shirt.
“We have to look at the performance of the team. If it’s not enough, then I will have to look at myself again and tell the bosses that ‘maybe I don’t deserve to be wearing this badge’. We cannot continue losing to Pirates like this – it’s unacceptable, it’s not on,” Khune said on live television after the match.
“We have to look at ourselves and say, ‘Do we deserve to wear this shirt? Do we deserve to make these people happy?’ If not, then we might as well tell Bobby that this badge is too heavy for us, because some of us are giving our all in every match, but it seems like we’re all not coming to the party. So that’s why I am saying we all have to go and look at ourselves as individuals and see what contribution we are making to this badge,” he added.
It is not Khune alone who feels this way as many supporters have been calling for the club to start buying some quality players. It has been years since that call was made. Maybe it was time the club’s recruitment policy was revisited.
The embarrassing schoolboy errors the team made in the latest defeat to Pirates are not good for the brand that the club has become after years of hard work. Pirates used to do the same thing as they signed just about any player they could. But they have since changed and you can see that a player is carefully profiled before being brought on board.
But as IsiZulu suggests, “ohlab’eyakhe akanqatshelwa” which, when loosely translated, means “he who slaughters his own herd cannot be stopped”. Maybe we should let the rot continue.