Iron Duke: I was right

Irvin Khoza feels vindicated for making the "best decision for the club" by replacing treble-winning coach Ruud Krol with Julio Leal before the start of the soccer season.

The Orlando Pirates chairman responded yesterday to criticism that he should have kept Krol at the club instead of bringing in a new coach.

The Iron Duke said Leal had given the club and its supporters bragging rights over their Soweto rivals, Kaizer Chiefs, by defending their MTN8 title at the weekend.

It was early days as far as predicting whether the Buccaneers would keep their Absa Premiership crown at the end of the season, but the new coach had "raised the club's standards".

Khoza said: "We obviously wanted to keep the coach [Krol], but we had to make the best decision for the club looking into the future. I acknowledge the contribution he made, but we have been vindicated by the performance of the team so far."

Under Krol, Pirates ended last season as the Top 8, Nedbank Cup and league champions. Khoza said he would not be disappointed if Leal didn't achieve the same feat.

The chairman said the African Champions League was more of a priority.

"It takes time to transform the team. It could take Leal one or two years to get the team playing the style of football we want. So we have to be patient with the coach," said Khoza.

"We took a chance with Krol and sacrificed winning trophies for a few years, and last season we won the treble. That was a big gamble that paid off, but he would have been labelled a failure if he didn't win the cups."

Khoza said Leal's two-year absence from football had bought the Brazilian coach time to come up with new ideas for the modern game. Leal was caught up in a contractual dispute with former club Moroka Swallows after being fired in 2009.

"It bought him time to come up with innovative ideas for the players. He was only as good as his last act [Leal won the Nedbank Cup with Swallows] and now he has the space to give his knowledge to the players. But supporters don't care about how long he was out of football, they want [positive] results," said Khoza.

He said it would be "nice" if Leal could defend the club's other cups. But a break from domestic cup competitions would increase Pirates' chances in the Champions League. That competition kicks off in February, but CAF is yet to confirm the fixture list because the latest edition is at the semifinals stage.

Said Khoza: "We can't claim to be a good team in our domestic league but not do well in the Champions League, especially with the status the Premier League has."