Chiefs coach sent packing
MIDDENDORP: HEAD COACH PAYS THE PRICE FOR AMAKHOSI‘S HEARTBREAK
Club chairman Motaung feels it’s time to win trophies again and make the supporters happy.
The heartbreak of losing the Absa Premiership title to Mamelodi Sundowns on the last day of the season has led Kaizer Chiefs to swiftly swing the axe and sack head coach Ernst Middendorp with immediate effect.
Chiefs announced yesterday that they had decided to “part ways” with Middendorp, today’s politically correct wording for a sacking, with Amakhosi having lost the title to Sundowns on Saturday, when they failed to beat Baroka FC, and Masandawana beat Black Leopards.
“We truly believed and hoped that our 50th anniversary year would be better, and it indeed looked promising. The decision taken is part of a strategy to have the team win trophies again and to make our supporters happy because they deserve better,” said Chiefs chairman Kaizer Motaung in a statement yesterday.
“After giving the coach and the technical team the ammunition required to compete in the new season, there were some improvements, and this was evident during the first seven months of this 2019/2020 season.
“However, when the league restarted post-lockdown, things changed, and we looked a totally different side in our last eight league matches.
We witnessed some heart-stopping performances and we were overtaken on the log 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.”
“We wish him (Middendorp) all the best for the future. We pride ourselves on having built a strong legacy and a culture based on winning,”
The simple fact, however, is that Kaizer Chiefs have gone five years and counting without domestic silverware, and whoever comes in will have a massive task to break the dominance of Sundowns.
Gavin Hunt is the clear favourite to be appointed as Chiefs head coach, having left Bidvest Wits at the end of this season, after they were sold to Limpopo outfit TTM.
Hunt has won four Absa Premiership titles, three at SuperSport United and one at Wits, and would no doubt relish the opportunity to coach the most popular team in the South African game.
“Right now no one has spoken to me from Chiefs,” Hunt told The Citizen yesterday. “I don’t want to comment on anything.”
Benni McCarthy is another name that has been thrown into the ring, with the former Bafana Bafana striker and Cape Town City coach out of a job since City gave him the chop last year.
“I think any coach including coach Pitso (Mosimane), if he gets an opportunity to manage Pirates or Chiefs, would take it in a heartbeat because South African football is Chiefs and Pirates,” McCarthy told Marawa TV this week.