The shock announcement on Wednesday that Molefi Ntseki has been appointed Kaizer Chiefs coach has divided opinion among the club’s faithful and football fans in general.
Ntseki replaces Arthur Zwane, who has been demoted to assistant coach after he spectacularly failed to guide the team to any silverware or a place in the Champions League or the Confederation Cup.
It is a risky sojourn into the unknown by Amakhosi, given that Ntseki does not have a tangible track record as a club coach, but the good thing is that they have taken a decision and everyone in the technical team knows where they stand.
What has been startling to observe over the past few hours, has been the negative response from the overwhelming majority of Chiefs fans, who have shown no confidence in Ntseki.
Though he doesn’t have proven track record as a club coach, Ntseki, who has been Amakhosi’s head of technical and development for just over two years, is a former Bafana Bafana coach and enjoyed reasonable success with junior national teams.
There is no guarantee that Ntseki will lead Chiefs to success, but at the very least he deserves a chance to show what he can do because there is no doubt about his capability.
The same thing happening to Ntseki befell Orlando Pirates coach José Riveiro at the beginning of last season, where he was ridiculed, mostly by opposition supporters and a certain section of the media.
The Spaniard blocked the noise, knuckled down and led Pirates to rare double success with the Buccaneers lifting the MTN8 and Nedbank Cup.
There is no guarantee that Ntseki will lead Chiefs to success, but at the very least he deserves a chance to show what he can do because there is no doubt about his capability.
He may lack the necessary experience when it comes to club football, but Ntseki is one of the most qualified coaches in South Africa with a Safa Pro Licence and has also worked as a Caf coaching instructor.
Just like Arthur Zwane ruefully found out last season, Ntseki is going to learn quickly that the DStv Premiership is an unforgiving environment if results are hard to come by.
Hopefully he will bring the much-needed spark that has been missing at Naturena and help the club go after Mamelodi Sundowns, who have lifted the league trophy for six seasons on the bounce.
The other important determining factors that will determine how the season is going to pan out, is how the club is going to support him when it comes to signing players and his working relationship with Zwane and Dillion Sheppard.
The Chiefs management has taken a massive risk, and it is time for the fans to take a leap of faith and back Ntseki because he is going to need the support of each and every supporter next season.
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