While it’s obvious Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates need to open their chequebooks to bring back glory days, football legends have advised that the clubs be wise about how they do that.
The Soweto giants have hit an unprecedented period of struggle in SA domestic football, with Sundowns’ great success piling more pressure on their two rivals.
Downs were crowned DStv Premiership champions for the fifth time in a row last month and are on verge of completing a treble if they win the Nedbank Cup final against Marumo Gallants on Saturday. They won the MTN8 earlier in the season that concludes with the Nedbank final.
Chiefs’ last silverware success was in 2015, and they just completed another disappointing, barren campaign. Though Pirates won the MTN8 in 2020, they had not enjoyed any other trophy success going back to 2014 before that. On Friday night they missed another opportunity, losing to RS Berkane in the 2021-22 Caf Confederation Cup final.
As the off-season fast approaches, it’s expected that the Soweto giants — the two biggest-supported sides in SA — will head to the boardroom to strategise on how they can get back to a level of performance on the field that matches their backing off it.
Former Pirates players Lucky Lekgwathi and Joseph Makhanya and Chiefs legend and interim coach Arthur Zwane all believe when the clubs go to the market, they shouldn’t just sign players for the sake of it. They say this has been one of the reasons for the state Chiefs and Pirates have found themselves in.
The former stars firmly believe not every footballer can endure the rigours that playing for monstrous clubs such as Chiefs or Pirates come with.
“The first thing to do if they want to challenge Sundowns is to open their chequebooks and go buy players,” Lekgwathi, Bucs’ multiple trophy-winning captain of the late 2000s and early 2010s, said.
“But also, they must not just buy any player because he once scored against Orlando Pirates, or he marked [Pirates midfield star Thembinkosi] Lorch very well.
“No. They must check if that player is Pirates or Chiefs material. That’s how they can get back to the top because whenever [Sundowns] buy a player, they thoroughly check if he is going to fit their style of play.”
Lekgwathi believes Chiefs and Pirates far too often sign players they don’t necessarily need, which leads to them being played out of position to give them game time.
“That will never happen at Sundowns. When they sign a central defender, he is going to play in his position, but with Chiefs and Pirates they just sign someone because he scored against them.”
We need players who believe in themselves because Chiefs can’t be playing football that would be boring.
— Zwane
Makhanya echoed Lekgwathi’s statement, but the crowd-favourite Pirates winger feels there’s still a lot of work both Soweto giants need to do before they can go toe to toe with well-oiled machine and repeat Caf Champions League knockout-stage competitors Sundowns.
“These two teams need to invest in their teams again. Reinvest by acquiring quality personnel. I’m not saying their teams are lacking a lot of quality, but you can always improve it if you want to be successful in football,” Makhanya said.
“They must buy players, but the key is buying suitable players for these two clubs. They have to look and follow what Sundowns are doing, which is to bring suitable players on board.”
Zwane, who is hoping to land the full-time coaching job at Chiefs, having stood in for Stuart Baxter since his departure last month, has been outspoken in his brutal assessment of Chiefs’ deficiencies in the level and type of players they have brought to Naturena.
“We need to get the players of high quality with a lot of endurance and who are good on and off the ball, and also very arrogant on the ball,” Zwane said.
“Whether you are defender, offensive midfielder or a striker, we need players who believe in themselves because Chiefs can’t be playing football that would be boring.
“We want people to come to the stadium because we have a huge following, and we have to please those people while making sure we strike the balance at the same time in terms of getting the results,” he said.
“If we are to have players with low self-esteem, those are not players for Kaizer Chiefs. We want players who will have eagerness to win and players who are willing to express themselves within the structure of Chiefs.
“We will keep hunting to get the right players. Unfortunately they are not too many. Many players might find out they are good in terms of skills but don’t have the character for playing for a team of Kaizer Chiefs’ calibre, to cope with the demands that come with the responsibility of playing for this club.”
Lekgwathi and Makhanya also addressed the coaching situation at the two clubs. Doubts have been expressed that Mandla Ncikazi and Fadlu Davids — previously head coaches at small teams Golden Arrows and Maritzburg United respectively — have the stature to lead a team like Pirates. Lekgwathi said the Sea Robbers squad, which is stronger than Chiefs’ combination, could do wonders with a coach possessing strong leadership and discipline.
“I think Pirates should get a senior coach with a lot of experience and then you keep the two [Ncikazi and Davids] as [assistants]. Because I’m not saying Mandla and Fadlu are bad, but Pirates are a big team and they need a senior coach to guide them and for them to learn from,” Lekgwathi said.
“It’s difficult to come from small teams and coach a big team. At a team like Pirates some players will question your decisions as a coach, but no player will question a senior coach. But when you bring a coach from a small team it’s obvious some players will undermine them and question them if they are not fielding them.”
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