‘We will rise,’ says optimistic Johnson amid gloom at Kaizer Chiefs

A phrase interim coach Cavin Johnson repeated many times as he faced media on Thursday was “we will rise”, amid the gloom at the Kaizer Chiefs Village in Naturena after disappointing their fans with a ninth successive season without a trophy in 2023-2024.

Speaking after another embarrassing Nedbank Cup exit against first division Milford FC on Sunday, Johnson put up a brave face to declare success may come sooner than expected at Chiefs. 

The “sooner” Johnson was referring to would be their DStv Premiership match against Moroka Swallows at FNB Stadium on Saturday (5.45pm).

The Dube Birds are battling a slew of off-field problems affecting their results on the field. Swallows have gone eight matches without a win, including the two games they forfeited for not playing against Mamelodi Sundowns and Lamontville Golden Arrows in December.

Pushing Johnson to remain so optimistic is that the club's league form has been positive as they have produced four clean sheets and collected 11 points from a possible 15 in their past five matches unbeaten (three wins and two draws).

“Nowhere have I seen 20 misses [in the penalties defeat against Milford] including a penalty [and Chiefs hitting the post twice]. But working for an institution like Kaizer Chiefs, it's important that we speak to the players,” Johnson said.

“We have to pick ourselves up as trainers of professional athletes because the next game is more important than the one you've just lost ... It's about how we redeem ourselves.

“When we came back [on Monday] we sat down and told the guys, 'You know what, we're part of the nine-year drought now, but in the league we have still got a lot of games to play and in front of us we have a Soweto derby [against Swallows] where we must do the best we can.'

“Playing that game at home, we need to redeem ourselves. And when we look back we give ourselves a few positives in that we haven't lost in the past five games in the league — we've collected 11 points from a possible 15 and that gives you a bit of hope.

“That gives the players the ability to shift from one competition to the next, even though they're interlinked. That's where we're getting our strength from now.

“We'll go out on Saturday against Moroka Swallows and perform the best we can and keep the clean sheet and score the goals to gain maximum points.”

Johnson said Chiefs have not put much emphasis on Swallows' problems. Amid the turmoil the Birds have lost a few players, including Andile Jali, and head coach Steve Komphela has parted ways with Swallows. 

“It's difficult [to read what's happening at Swallows] but we concentrate on what we can see. They've had two games since Steve left.

“We've looked at what they've changed under Musa [Nyatama, Swallows' caretaker coach]. But we worry more about the outside — what we can see, not about the [inside of the] house.

“We're not throwing stones at what they're doing in that house but worry about what they're doing on the field.

“We know how we're going to approach them and we worry more about ourselves coming off a bad situation [and] going to the next part.” 

Johnson said Chiefs' realistic goals for the remainder of the are to “win as many games as we can and take each game as a cup final”.