Give Komphela a break, Chiefs midfielder pleads
VETERAN Kaizer Chiefs midfielder Siphiwe Tshabalala has come to Steve Komphela’s defence and pleaded with the club’s incensed supporters to give the embattled coach a break.
The noose has slowly tightened around Komphela’s neck over the past few weeks and irate supporters have communicated their unhappiness by abusing the coach at the end of Chiefs matches.
The club’s poor run of form – they have not won a game since beating Ajax Cape Town 2-0 in October – has only served to infuriate the supporters further and they have increased their aggression with each passing game.
Komphela has needed police and security personnel to escort him out of stadiums in recent weeks and Tshabalala said those who continued to pelt the coach with missiles and direct insults at him had crossed a line.
“It is not a nice situation to be in for the team‚ for the players and most importantly the coach‚” he said.
‘‘We are fully behind the coach. We support him and I think the only way we can show that we want him to stay‚ that we be- lieve in him and want him to succeed, is through performance and results.”
Tshabalala said the players had struggled to deal with watching Komphela exit stadiums under police and security protection and the ugly scenes had left a sour taste.
“[The abuse] definitely does get to us. It is not a nice situation to witness because he is not only the coach‚ he is a father‚ he is a husband‚ he is a brother‚ he is a good human being and it is not nice to see what has been happening in the past few weeks.
“But we can only change that through performance and good results.”
The former Bafana Bafana midfielder said Komphela’s regime was not the worst he had played under during his years at Naturena and he remembered worse times under combustible Serbian coach Vladimir “VV” Vermezovic (coach between May 2009 and April 2012).
“We lost four consecutive games in that period. It was a tough situation but we stuck together and we told ourselves that we had to change the situation.
“This season as well. Yes, it looks bad because we have played so many draws and we have dropped points at home. Hence, people are not happy. We are not happy and everyone is not happy.”
‘ The abuse definitely does get to us