New Kaizer Chiefs coach Molefi Ntseki’s CV: The pros and cons

Molefi Ntseki’s appointment as head coach has had a mixed reaction, though dismay seems to have been the notably more predominant if one pays attention to the Kaizer Chiefs fan spaces and comments that have swamped social media.

Chiefs announced Ntseki to replace Arthur Zwane, who becomes assistant coach, on Wednesday night.

TimesLIVE decided, without taking a side on whether Chiefs have made the right decision, to list the pros and cons of the former Bafana Bafana coach’s CV.

Pros

Ntseki has international experience. He coached Bafana Bafana for almost two years. Ntseki impressed with his sagacity as Bafana coach.

Mild-mannered and calm he oversaw one of the most difficult periods for any national coach, through the midst of lockdowns for Covid-19, the shutdown of domestic and international football and empty stadiums.

He came close to qualifying for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations. Bafana needed a draw against Sudan in Khartoum but disappointingly capitulated 2-0.

Ntseki, the quiet man he is, never publicly complained of being denied a charter flight by the South African Football Association (Safa) for the crucial match, meaning a gruelling travel schedule, so it also never received a lot of media attention at the time.

He originally made his name as South Africa Under-17 coach when he performed well to start with. Amajita reached the final of the 2015 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations, qualifying for the same year’s Fifa U-17 World Cup in Chile.

The team he assembled sourced a number of lesser-known players. Wiseman Meyiwa, Reeve Frosler, Khanyisa Mayo and Kobamelo Kodisang were unknowns when they were part of Ntseki’s squad that travelled to Chile, and who went on to become senior stars.

Before that he was one of the founders of the successful Harmony Academy in the Free State, which produced talents including Mamelodi Sundowns stars Teboho Mokoena and Sipho Mbule, while Ntseki is credited with discovering Chiefs’ recently released Eric Mathoho and Downs’ Thapelo Morena.

His talent-spotting ability could help Chiefs improve their scouting department, an area that has needed attention since Walter Steenbok, now technical director at Safa, left Amakhosi in 2021. Ntseki, though, also needs to impress on the club the need to bring strong personnel into that department.

Perhaps the biggest positive is Ntseki has spent two years at Naturena in the designation of head of technical and youth development. It’s not a completely new coach and new to the surroundings coming in. He knows Chiefs’ world-class facility, which the club wants its coaches to use well. He’s familiar with the first team players, and of course those coming through the youth system.

Take all this experience and expertise into consideration for a coach who, at 53, is still young for the profession, mix in hunger to prove himself and that he and his former Bafana assistant Zwane could complement each other well, and perhaps there is potential in the new arrangement.

Cons

Covid-19 and a potential lack of support from Safa aside, Ntseki’s spell as Bafana coach may not be seen as the most inspiring. Ultimately he did fail to reach the 2021 Nations Cup, and a home draw against a Ghana severely depleted by Covid-19 travel restrictions days before the Sudan defeat was as much to blame.

His team selections with the national team were unimaginative, as Ntseki largely persisted with the core players who served under the predecessor he was assistant to, Stuart Baxter.

His initial success with the SA U-17s often overshadows what followed — Ntseki failed to reach the 2017 and 2019 U-17 Nations Cups, bowing out 3-1 on aggregate to Tanzania in the second round of the former, and losing 1-0 in the final of the 2018 Cosafa U-17 Championship for the latter.

Even Ntseki's highlight with the U-17s — reaching the junior World Cup — was tainted by a middling performance in Chile, as his team lost 2-1 against Costa Rica, drew 1-1 against South Korea and lost 2-0 to Russia. 

As head of technical and youth development, did he impress the need for Chiefs to improve a scouting department that has been criticised as lacking? Under his watch, this crucial area seemed to decline, not improve. It’s hard to tell if that was the management or Ntseki’s direct fault, but ultimately it was Ntseki’s department.

Standing up to Chiefs’ management on the deficiencies in the club, which seem to stem from match preparation and depth in back-room boffins and technology, to scouting and quality of signings, will be crucial for any coach’s success at Amakhosi.

Easily the biggest hole on Ntseki’s CV is a lack of trophies, but more than that, experience coaching a Premiership team - he scores zero for both.

His most notable experience at club level was promoting Welkom Stars from the third-tier Vodacom League (now Motsepe League) to the second tier First Division in 2000. Now he is the coach of the club that remains the biggest in the country in terms of support, even if they have fallen miles behind six-time successive Premiership champions and regular Caf Champions League knockout stage competitors Mamelodi Sundowns in success on the field.

That gap is another con for Ntseki. The distance by which Chiefs have fallen behind not just Sundowns, but even arch-rivals Orlando Pirates — who, painfully for Amakhosi, have at least won three trophies in three seasons and compete more regularly in Caf competitions — places enormous pressure on an incoming coach.

Eight seasons without a trophy is monolithic for a team that previously went a longest of one campaign without silverware. It is the reason no less a Chiefs legend than Lucas Radebe is predicting more doom and gloom under Ntseki.

Radebe believes Ntseki is a good coach, but what Chiefs need to restore them to being not just domestic but continental competitors is a boss with some of the best credentials in Africa. Ntseki does not have those.

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