Chiefs coach Ntseki not throwing in towel despite humiliating cup loss to AmaZulu

Embattled Kaizer Chiefs coach Molefi Ntseki has refused to throw in the towel on his seemingly untenable future at the club.

This despite Chiefs supporters having hurled missiles at him for the third time this season, after yet another a humiliating defeat on Saturday as his team bowed out in the first round of the Carling Knockout Cup with a 1-0 loss to AmaZulu at FNB Stadium.

“I don't think it's a question that has to be answered now,” was Ntseki's reaction when asked after Saturday's match if he would consider resigning as Amakhosi head coach, the position he took up at the start of the 2023-24 campaign.

“I'm employed by the club and we have technical conversations and we look into incidents like this and we have meetings to discuss what the possibilities are going forward.

“But for you [a reporter] to ask a question as to how I see my future at Kaizer Chiefs, I don't think it [the post-match press conference] is the platform to entertain the question.”

Things have not gone well for Ntseki and Chiefs since the start of the season. They also exited in the semifinals of the MTN8 after a defeat to Mamelodi Sundowns and have suffered four losses in nine DStv Premiership matches to sit in eighth place, trailing leaders Sundowns by 13 points. 

The defeat against Usuthu means Chiefs' unprecedented eight-season struggle to win any silverware in since May 2105 continues. 

Ntseki insisted his technical staff — which includes Arthur Zwane, who was head coach last season — will sit down with the club's management after the cup defeat and try to find a way forward.

The coach said he was disappointed with the result but also about how the fans reacted to the defeat.

“I think it's difficult one if one is to explain the place I find myself in,” the former Bafana Bafana coach admitted about not getting the desired results.

“I always say when you prepare [the team] you prepare to win. But when you lose games like these you're always worried about what will happen at the end of the game and I don't think it's actually a good thing for football.

“It has turned out to be like every training session is like your last session. Every game you play is like your last game because you're more worried about the results. I've been saying it's preparation, preparation, preparation. 

“Yes, you're not getting the result and you own up as a coach — but when things [fans throwing missiles] happen for a third time, it is not only affecting you as a coach. It also affects your players, because when they get to hear and see what happens to their coach when they lose matches, it also becomes a reflection on them to say, 'What if tomorrow I'm the next one when I didn't have a good game?'” 

Chiefs' next game in the league is against second-placed Lamontville Golden Arrows at the Mpumalanga Stadium in Durban on Saturday.