Chippa urged to go local
KAIZER Chiefs chairman Kaizer Motaung has finally broken his silence on the tricky contracts situation at the club, but it was not exactly to cast further illumination on a matter that has bred speculation for the best part of the season.
The league and cup double winners could still be faced with an exodus of effectively the spine of their team in captain and defender Tefu Mashamaite and Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune.
Neither has renewed his contract, which run out in June.
Added to that is the potential threat of coach Stuart Baxter, who has won four trophies – two leagues and two cups – with the club leaving before the final year of his deal is up.
Baxter is on record as saying he has received three offers from elsewhere, and if one reads between the lines he might use that as leverage to achieve an overhaul of the Chiefs squad. Motaung had said nothing on the matter until this past weekend, after Chiefs put an exclamation mark on their league campaign with a 2-0 win over Chippa United in Port Elizabeth.
“You guys [the media] obviously write those things because you have to sell newspapers. But as far as we’re concerned it’s a work in progress,” Motaung said.
“We know the intricacies of contract renewals. If I tell you we started negotiating a year ago, you won’t believe it.
“But there’s another element that plays a part, not only the player. It’s what you call intermediaries, because they’re no longer called agents.
“They create some of the challenges because they use certain tactics to get to within the last six months of the players’ contracts, because then they have better leverage.”
Baxter, whose contract ends next year, has revealed he has had offers from overseas clubs.
“If any developments come up we will discuss them and address them with the coach,” Motaung said.
“It’s obviously between us and him – what challenges there are, if he has offers elsewhere, or anything like that.”
On Chiefs’ second league and cup double in three seasons, with record points of 69 and a winning margin of 12, Motaung said it harked back to the dominant Amakhosi of old.
“But the way we did it now is very special. To win it with three games to go – just like Chelsea and Bayern Munich did, by the way – was great,” the chairman said.
The final game had been a celebration for all the players’ hard work. “And I was impressed they could give that to the fans in the style they did.
“I’ve witnessed all the 12 league titles we’ve won.
“But this was a grand finale – it was beautiful.
“It’s something out of this world to see an away team have 90% of the stadium – I’ve never seen it anywhere in the world.”
Chiefs won the league and Nedbank Cup in 2012-13, went trophyless after blowing an 11-point lead in the league last season, then took this season’s double of the MTN8 and PSL.
“We learnt our lesson from last season,” Motaung said.
“This season I must give credit to the coach [Baxter], technical staff and players.
“We had a very good run in the first round.
“And actually unexpectedly because we had key players injured in Bernard Parker and Siphiwe Tshabalala.
“The guys who came in like Mandla Masango and George Lebese did very well.”