Chiefs bite the bullet and fire Mazinyo
Something to cheer for Amakhosi, at last
The second coming of Ernst Middendorp at Kaizer Chiefs was widely expected to end with a championship triumph last weekend, but it concluded instead yesterday with the coach departing just four days after Amakhosi’s traumatic collapse in the title race.
In a statement that barely disguised chairman Kaizer Motaung’s disappointment about last week’s meek surrender to Mamelodi Sundowns in the Absa Premiership, the club confirmed the German would be let go with immediate effect, just under a year to the conclusion of a contract he signed in December 2018.
“We truly believed and hoped our 50th anniversary year would be better, and it indeed looked promising,” Motaung said in the statement.
He highlighted Chiefs’ disastrous showing in the post-lockdown period, where they won just two out of eight matches, as having been instrumental in sacking Middendorp for the second time (he was first fired by Amakhosi in 2007).
“We looked a totally different side in our last eight matches. We witnessed some heartstopping performances and we were overtaken in the last game of the season, which truly broke our hearts. We have to take responsibility we can’t wait and allow this situation to continue.”
Amakhosi led the Premiership standings from August last year, only to be toppled by Sundowns with about half-anhour to go on Saturday.
A win would have seen Amakhosi end their five-year drought for silverware, but instead Chiefs could only draw 1-1 with Baroka, while Sundowns’s impressive 3-0 win over Black Leopards allowed them to take over at the top.
Middendorp has come under severe criticism for his largely predictable tactics, which brought Chiefs an impressive points haul in the first half of the season. But once teams were able to counter those tactics, he was found wanting and badly exposed amid suggestions he had only one method of playing.
Hoofing the ball towards Samir Nurkovic seemed to be Middendorp’s Plan A, B and C, but it didn’t help much in the final stretch, where Chiefs returned a paltry eight out of 24 points after football resumed.
A former excellent footballer in his own right, Chiefs regression and stale play could not have escaped Motaung’s eagle eye.
“We considered many aspects relating to the team, including our way of playing, before coming to this decision,” he stated.
The search for a replacement who would be Chiefs fifth coach in five years will now begin in earnest.
“We will announce the new coach before the team resumes pre-season training,” the Chiefs supremo said. Fourtime league winner Gavin Hunt has strongly been linked with a move to Naturena.
Middendorp, meanwhile, couldn’t be reached but there’s little doubt yesterday’s firing will have added to the misery of Saturday’s catastrophe, not least as it came when he was on the verge of annexing his first-ever league title.