Kaizer Chiefs have dug themselves into a big, dark hole
No scriptwriter could have come up with a script for what is playing out at Kaizer Chiefs.
Things are tenuous down Naturena Village way.
It looks like whoever coined the phrase it never rains but it pours had Kaizer Chiefs in mind. On the evidence of the handful of matches they have played in all competitions, Gavin Hunt has his hands full. His hair is becoming a shade of grey with every passing second and threatening to get to the level of that orange man at the White House sooner than soon.
What is the cause of Chiefs’ conundrum? What got them into this deep dark hole?
For starters, Chiefs are culpable for the crisis they are in. Investment in the playing squad has been negligible. Investment in the true sense of the word.
Big-name players don’t fall from heaven like manna. The last time Kaizer Chiefs bought a real superstar in recent years was when they got Khama Billiat.
Everybody knows what Billiat did at Mamelodi Sundowns as part of that CBD triumvirate with Leonardo Castro and Keagan Dolly.
But before and after that marquee purchase, who had come in? A raft of inefficient, ineffective riff-raff has entered and exited. Ovidy Karuru, Edward Manqele, Lincoln Zvasiya, Michelle Katsvairo, Edmore Chirambadare and Bongani Ndulula. Gustavo Paez... Counting all of them will leave me with no space for the column.
They didn’t stay longer because they were unsuitable players who found themselves on the books of Amakhosi by default in what used to be the home only for the most illustrious.
Those players ranked in the category of quantity. They abysmally failed to help the club to collect any silverware.
They wouldn’t qualify to tie the laces
The last time Chiefs bought a real superstar in recent years was when they got Khama Billiat
of Emmanuel “Scara” Ngobese, Jabu “Shuffle” Pule, Collins “Ntofontofo” Mbesuma, Cyril “Skhokho” Nzama, Thabo “Tsiki-Tsiki” Mooki. When Chiefs were in the mood to splash the cash, they did so brilliantly. Tshepo Masilela at leftback. Tefu Mashamaite and Molomowandau Mathoho, the two centrebacks who earned the moniker of Twin Towers. Siboniso Gaxa roamed down the right. Morgan Gould was part of that defensive mix. Remember Stuart Baxter sometimes played three centrebacks.
Those five players and six, if you add Itumeleng Khune as the last line of defence, were the bedrock of the Bafana Bafana rearguard at the time.
They were able to assist Baxter who during his three-year tenure at the club delivered two league titles as well as an MTN8 and Nedbank Cup trophies.
Khune, Mathoho, Bernard Parker and Willard Katsande remain from the team that last tasted glory.
They have not been able to win any since then and don’t seem to have any fire in their bellies. They are the ones who are expected to help the young guns. Hunt has no option but to play them because of the two-window transfer ban imposed on the club. The stalwarts seem to have long lost their legs. It is admirable to see Parker running his socks off. Even from afar you can tell the heart wants it but the body says something else.
Hunt was celebrated as a saviour when he was appointed. But only a lunatic would have expected him to be the panacea to their problems.
It appears coming second last season, dragged by Samir Nukorvic, was the best the old guard could give. It would take nothing short of a miracle for them to be able to deliver any piece of silverware this season. This afternoon they have to overturn a 3-0 deficit. Why Chiefs managemenent allowed the team to disintegrate and not rejuvenate is the eighth wonder of the world. Poignantly absence of consequence management is what has shoved them deeper into a dark hole. A monumental mistake was made in the signing of Andriamirado “Dax” Adrianaminana. Nobody paid the price for such a monumental flop. N.O.B.O.D.Y.