AmaZulu ‘deserve to be back’
CLUB HAS A GOOD HISTORY Coach rails against punishing schedule they are faced with.
Cavin Johnson says he has been swayed by his short time in the AmaZulu hot-seat that it is good for South African football that Usuthu are back in the Absa Premiership.
AmaZulu gained their place in this year’s Premiership campaign in controversial fashion, buying the status of Thanda Royal Zulu, who had finished top of last year’s National First Division, while Usuthu ended up in fifth.
The buying of statuses is one of the Premier Soccer League’s more criticised rules, and Johnson did admit he had been opposed to it.
“If you had asked me this question about four months ago, I would tell you no, it is not a good thing,” he told Phakaaathi yesterday, when asked if he felt AmaZulu should have been allowed to effectively buy promotion.
“But after I have come to Durban and seen what AmaZulu is all about … this is a club that is 85 years old, if you look at the history and at what the province gets from AmaZulu, they should never be out of the Premiership. This a side that can draw 15 000 to 20 000 people to its home games.
“It is not like a previous club I worked for, where you always felt like you were playing away,” he added, in a clear reference to Platinum Stars.
“For me it is the first time since I worked at Ajax and Sundowns that the hairs have stood up on my neck, I could feel the stadium and that my players were going to be pushed.”
AmaZulu opened their Premiership campaign with 1-0 home win over Free State Stars on Saturday and tonight they are in Port Elizabeth, where they will play Chippa United.
Johnson, who was only appointed on August 8 to replace Joey Antipas, is not happy about the short distance in time between the two matches.
“I’ve been here for seven days, and already I am flying to different provinces, you have to start running in this league or you are in major trouble. There is no way to build up good momentum.
“It is crazy for me that we play on Tuesday again, it is not good for the brand, we have to fly to PE this morning (yesterday) at 6am, we can do a little session today and then we play tomorrow.”
Johnson is also wary of Chippa, even though they only just survived relegation last season, and opened their campaign with a 1-0 defeat at Orlando Pirates.
“I am not putting anything against Chippa, they are always a team that holds the ball. I think they had 70% of the possession against Pirates, and Pirates won the game … they won the game tactically.”