Maybe awards don’t work for us, says Hunt
THERE won’t be too many raised eyebrows when this season’s Footballer of the Year is named … and it’s not a Wits player.
The Clever Boys, newlycrowned PSL champions as of Wednesday night, have shown their endurance in the marathon that is the league title race. However, they’ve done it as a collective, especially if you consider that Gavin Hunt is the coach.
Now a four-time championship-winning coach alongside Gordon Igesund and the late Ted Dumitru, Hunt said he’s never been one to moan about personal accolades, but felt some of his players deserved a bit more credit than what has come their way.
“Never, even when we won the league three times with SuperSport United, the Footballer of the Year would come from a team that finished eighth,” Hunt said, recalling how, when Matsatsantsa won their maiden championship in 2008, then Orlando Pirates midfielder Teko Modise was crowned the Footballer of the Year, a prestige more lucrative than Player of the Year, which went the way of Elias Pelembe, a SuperSport player.
There is also debate as to whether Hunt might have to battle it out with Cape Town City’s Eric Tinkler for the Coach of the Year gong despite guiding Wits to the championship and his counterpart, while his side’s journey this season has been remarkable, looks set to finish in third place at the end of the campaign.
“Maybe all these awards don’t work for us,” said Hunt. “What I do know is that we have three or four candidates, but I won’t name them.”
It’s tough to speculate who would be up for an individual award at Wits. While they have finally ended a 96-year drought to bag the championship, Hunt has not necessarily relied on the same players throughout, chopping and changing at will, but to good effect.
He also argued that Daine Klate, who took his tally of league medals to six on Wednesday night, was incredibly underrated in the country. The 32-year-old was in the thick of it when SuperSport won three consecutive championships in 2008, 2009 and 2010 (all under Hunt). It was the same when he moved to Orlando Pirates and twice won the treble in 2011 and 2012.
“My relationship with him is my size eight foot up his backside,” the coach said. “And he waned a little bit this year, he knows that, but he came back and on the day we win the league he scores a goal like that (the second in a 2-0 win over Polokwane City). Daine should not train Monday to Friday, but just come on Saturdays, in my opinion, because then he’s better.”