Zwane never stood a chance with Chiefs
FULL marks to coach Arthur Zwane for being brutally honest and admitting his mandate was “winning cups” even though he was in his debut year as a Premiership coach.
The bigwigs at Chiefs expected Zwane, an elite division greenhorn, to win trophies in his maiden year at a club which for some time had failed to win anything.
After Saturday’s Nedbank Cup semi-final defeat at the hands of arch-rivals Orlando Pirates, Zwane declared: “I have learnt a lot in my first season.”
Zwane’s inexperience has come at a great price, another year without winning silverware. The decisionmakers at Chiefs didn’t have the foresight to see that Zwane would spend the season learning his trade in the top flight.
It also means the players were sold short on many fronts because Zwane was on a journey of his own. What is more frightening is that the powers who appointed Zwane will be around for some time.
These individuals are the ones who will decide which players are surplus to the club’s needs and which players must be recruited. One of the problems that contributed to Chiefs’ lack of success was the absence of marquee signings, players who could make a real impact.
Keagan Dolly and Kharma Billiat were considered the best acquisitions over the past two years, but they hardly made an impact.
The coach is best equipped to say which players must be released and which players must be bought in ... At Chiefs, this was not always the case and three seasons ago thencoach Gavin Hunt bluntly told the media that he had no idea what some players were doing at Chiefs.
By implication, he let it be known that even though he was the head coach he had no say in the recruitment of players.
Before Hunt’s time, coach Stuart Baxter was a few months into a three-year contract (2021) and he decided to leave the club after “butting heads” with the club’s new sporting director Kaizer Motaung jnr.
Even though the latter was cutting his teeth in a position where he had precisely zero experience, he felt the need to tell Baxter how to do his job, specifically concerning the releasing and recruitment of players.
In his first spell as Chiefs coach, Baxter won the Premiership title in 2013 and again in 2015. This was no fluke and showed his outstanding ability as a coach.
Instead of the greenhorn
Motaung jnr sitting open-mouthed and hanging on to every word from Baxter, he decided to tell Baxter what is best for the club. Over the past two seasons, the wisdom of Motaung jnr has prevailed and still, the club remains trophyless.
Before graduating into the Premiership ranks, Zwane did an excellent job coaching in the club’s development ranks. Although Chiefs did not dominate the DStv Diski Challenge, during Zwane’s tenure several players were good enough to be promoted to the Premiership team.
What the bigwigs at Chiefs did not realise was that this was not a good enough reason to move Zwane up to the Premiership team.
Many leading clubs around the world have coaches who enjoy great success in the development ranks but this is not necessarily the cue to appoint them as coaches of the first team.