Hunt haunted by Wits horror show
From league champs to chumps in just a few months
● Beleaguered Bidvest Wits gaffer Gavin Hunt has dared anyone with designs on seeing him dismissed to come drag him kicking and screaming out of the club.
To say Wits have been diabolical as Hunt pulled a Claudio Ranieri (fired Leicester City manager) — winning the league one season and battling against relegation the following one — would be showering the dizzy defending Premier Soccer League champions with a fountain of praise.
They have been a soulless pale shadow of the compact team whose efficacy and coherency sprung them to their historic maiden league title in 96 years of existence.
But, after his out-of-sorts Students posted a 2-0 victory over SuperSport United on Wednesday, Hunt was in a mood to tame alligators.
What has derailed their momentum?
“Me? Hah! baba, you have to chase me [out of] here, pull me out of here on horse and cart. No quitting,” a defiant Hunt responded when quizzed on whether he was engulfed by thoughts of resigning in the face of three wins and eight defeats in 16 matches.
Horrible Hunt’s assertion that his team has been playing well is a red herring. Saying a team that scores a paltry nine goals and ships in double that amount [in 16 matches] plays well constitutes distinguished disingenuousness. Hunt has to look no further than the man in the mirror and right his wrongs. He calls the shots and hiding behind a thumb is monkey business.
Yes, there were extenuating factors to Wits’ season, such as injuries to key players including skipper Thulani Hlatshwayo, Buhle Mkhwanazi and No 1 goalie Darren Keet.
However, diagnosing the ills at Wits doesn’t excuse Hunt from standing at the centre of what has derailed their momentum this season. Chief among those factors are:
A consistently inconsistent starting XI. Bafana Bafana left-back Sifiso Hlanti is the only player who has been a regular starter. No team can master rhythm and results when its rearguard and frontline is changed like Cyril Ramaphosa’s socks.
The disparities in the disbursement of bonuses after the league triumph sowed seeds of discontent and disrupted the team harmony.
A string of Hunt’s new signings didn’t step up to the plate. Out of six signed in July, only former 1860 Munich midfielder Daylon Claasen has managed to hold on to a starting position when he is fit.
Marquee signing Steven Pienaar failed with flying colours and has left after six months. Hunt persisted with him but all Pienaar delivered was to be a poster child of poor results.
The decision to sell defender Siyabonga Nhlapo and loan midfielder Sifiso Myeni to SuperSport United in July was clearly ill-advised, especially seeing that Myeni has been recalled to Wits.
The club didn’t try harder to keep loanees Cuthbert Malajila and Mogakolodi Ngele, who featured prominently in Wits’ title-winning team and returned to their parent club, Mamelodi Sundowns, in July but haven’t been of any significant use at Downs.
Hunt — a four-time league champion with over 750 matches under his belt — was his usual anxious self trying to explain his club’s form this season.
He insists he will not throw in the towel and leave the club in the kind of nightmarish conundrum he’s put them in.
“I’m so under pressure,” Hunt admitted. “I’m embarrassed for the team, myself and the club. I’ve never been in this position in over 25 years I’ve been a coach in South African football, but I’ve never seen anything like this in my life. The kind of misses we’ve had.”
If quitting is not in the equation, panic buttons of being fired must be ringing louder in Hunt’s head. After all, Ranieri didn’t resign but was fired.
“Of course I’m pressing panic buttons. Every game I’m pressing panic buttons. Even when I was winning the league, I was pressing panic buttons,” said Hunt.
Bad business
In trying to defend his team’s poor form, Hunt kept lamenting the clubs’s failure to get good acquisitions at the start of the season.
“In my opinion we didn’t do [good] business at the start of the season.”
Who’s fault was that? “Now we are doing business and you might hear some big stories before the close of the current window period.” A Wits player told the Sunday Times: “We had a meeting with Jose [Ferreira, club CEO] before the SuperSport game. What came out of that was that the players are happy with bonuses of the Telkom Knockout final victory (half of the R4-million winners’ cheque went to the players).
“The structure was explained and everyone was satisfied.”
Another player added: “Jose pleaded with us to get the team out of the position we are in. He said he could not fire the coach because in 15 months he has won three trophies for the club, the MTN8, the league and Telkom KO. You could see in the way we played against SuperSport that we are back.”
Wits are scraping the bottom of the PSL barrel with 14 points from 16 matches. They are away to Chippa United at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium this afternoon for a 3.30pm kickoff.
They’ll be looking to reverse the 2-0 firstround loss via a Samuel Julies brace.