Mixed messages

IN THE dog-eat-dog, winner-takes-all culture of modern professional sport, the statement by Cape Town City’s coach Benni McCarthy that his team are not ready to win titles is quite surprising.

The local team, in their second season after relocating from Mpumalanga and being renamed after a famous brand from yesteryear, have punched above their weight to some degree. In their first season, under Eric Tinkler, the Citizens beat SuperSport United to win the Telkom KO Cup. And you could call that beginner’s luck, but the team went on to finish in a praiseworthy third spot.

With some astute buying and contracting of players the “Blue and Gold Army” have maintained their initial levels of success, and remained in the top three positions in the league for most of the current season.

They reached the final of another cup competition, the MTN8, in October last year, losing to SuperSport United in a penalty shootout.

This was further evidence that new owner John Comitis was getting plenty of things right.

On the downside, McCarthy has had to see a couple of his best players leave for bigger clubs, but Cape Town City have nevertheless quickly usurped the tag of the best Premier Soccer League club in town from Ajax Cape Town.

Perhaps McCarthy’s latest claim falls into the category of “cheap psychology” – trying to jog his players into a mindset of “We’ll show you, coach!” and get them fixated on pushing all the way to a league triumph.

But the City fans, who like the supporters of any professional side invest a lot in their team , would be forgiven for asking “Why are we competing, if we are only trying to come second or third?”

Players, too, might be confused by McCarthy’s message, and this weekend’s derby against Ajax provides an opportunity to prove to their followers that while winning is not everything, their team indeed has the will to make a serious run at all the competitions they are contending for.

The fans deserve no less.