Hunt’s arteries and veins pump football

When Kaizer Chiefs announced that the three players who were on loan at Swallows FC last season would spend another year with the newly-promoted side, I must admit I felt like the club was sabotaging Gavin Hunt.

With their transfer ban appeal verdict still pending, I thought Amakhosi would at least hold on to Ayanda Rorwana, Itumeleng Shopane, and Given Thibedi because they might not be able to make any new signings should the verdict go against them.

But then I remembered that this is Gavin Hunt we are talking about, uMakadebona wempela (a real survivor who has been through so much).

I remembered how touched we all were when we saw videos of him coaching Black Leopards on the dusty grounds of Venda a long time back and I joked with a friend that he was probably the only white man in Venda at that time. But he looked so relaxed and happy.

That tells you he lives for football and can adapt to any situation as long as there is football, and maybe like me, a beer close by ( yes, I have also seen videos of how he celebrates with a bottle of his favourite brew.

He is probably one of those that would have died had Covid-19 not slowed and football not returned.

Hunt has already seen some of the Amakhosi youngsters or heard about them through his former MDC coach at Wits and now his trusted right-hand man at Amakhosi, Dillon Sheppard and identified possible stars in the Chiefs development ranks to give a chance to.

He is a survivor and knows how to get the best out of any player. I have heard stories of how he had a go at you at training and later invited you for “coffee”, where he explained why he was so hard on you and how he believed you can be better. It is for this reason that I think he will be a success.

The one thing, however, that Hunt will have to change a little is his inability to express himself. He is at a big club now whose supporters want to hear what he has to say after every game , win, lose or draw.

His antics of giving one-liners at post-match interviews will have to end.

Articulating himself will help him to get the fans to understand his decisions and ideas, which will be under scrutiny from his first game tomorrow afternoon until the day he leaves Naturena.

No fans are as passionate as the Amakhosi fans and they want to know everything, and anyone, associated with their club.

I know it may be a challenge for him because he likes to project a bad-guy image, but I trust the Chiefs marketing and media team will help him along, just like they did with Ernst Middendorp, who was surprisingly friendlier during his last days at the club.

The marketing and media team led by Kemiso Motaung will really need to stay close to Hunt because he might be overwhelmed by the attention he is about to receive.

While he may have experienced it at other teams when they played Chiefs, this time he is the one occupying the hot seat.