For Kaizer Chiefs, there are a number of challenges across multiple fronts in the era of being second dog in South Africa to billionaire club and trophy machine Mamelodi Sundowns, which Amakhosi have battled to come to terms with.
The result: seven seasons, set to become eight in 2022-23 if Chiefs cannot win the Nedbank Cup, without an addition to the famous trophy cabinet next to the boardroom at the beautiful Kaizer Chiefs Village in Naturena.
Reasons for the failure have been discussed for almost eight years, but it’s always worth reinterrogating where Amakhosi — still the giants of South African football with an estimated 16-million supporters — have gone wrong and continue to do so.
Ahead of this season Chiefs rung changes in, not for the first time in recent years, playing personnel and, for the first time in quite some time, the football management department.
Former club winger Arthur Zwane was appointed as a young coach with bright ideas. More importantly, former Bafana Bafana coach Molefi Ntseki became head of technical to oversee the development and academy that was relaunched in 2014. Kaizer Motaung Jr was made sporting director, becoming the first team decisionmaker ahead of often maligned, though also at-times popular, football manager Bobby Motaung.
Supporters of the charismatic “Bobsteak” secretly delighting at Chiefs’ battles with Motaung Jr at the helm forget too quickly that a procession of substandard signings for the past 10 to 15 years saw Amakhosi become, in global terms, a complete anomaly of underachievement for a side possessing such a world-class facility.
The new brains trust’s signings were interesting, with an emphasis on youth and ball-playing. Zwane has striven to bring back the expressive football the brand was once synonymous with.
That it was a rebuilding effort that would need time was made clear. Chiefs are in fourth place in the DStv Premiership, 22 points behind runaway leaders Sundowns after an inconsistent season that even a patient management might have found frustrating. In fairness, there have also been some signs of promise, but surely not enough to satisfy the less patient support base.
Truth is, Chiefs are reeling and will continue to until three major defects in their football department are corrected through drastic action, and even then such changes might take time to yield trophies.
First, the signings have been far from good enough for a big three club, even if the team is gravitating towards producing talent from the academy as a response to not being able to go toe-to-toe with Downs’ wallet in signings. Second, nor is scouting and assessment of the quality of the signings — players too often seem to be signed based on performances at other clubs or leagues, without a genuine technical appraisal. Third, the technical staff simply does not match Downs’ modern army of excellent backroom boffins and technicians, who have been handpicked and assembled at Chloorkop.
The apparent source of Chiefs falling behind in such aspects seems twofold.
Their frugality has frustrated their fans. There are some reasons for it, though even those don’t seem to explain all the problems — the thriftiness has too often been accompanied by poor decisions.
Globally clubs backed by mega-wealthy benefactors — the Manchester Citys and Paris St-Germains — have become dominant. Many of those reliant on being mostly self-sustaining — even giants Manchester United — have been left largely trying to figure out how to play catch-up.
Chiefs, in the SA context to a similar challenge, have not adjusted well. They remain a marketing dream and huge in stature. But under visionary founder Kaizer Motaung Sr, the club has remained the core financial business of the family, which, apparently apart from investments that must also tie up capital, has not diversified in forming other big companies to supplement the football cash cow.
That leads to the second apparent reason for the downfall — it’s a family business, with the politics, seeming lack of clarity and pulling apart in direction that accompany such a structure.
We need recruitment structures, but at the same time the youth product is very important to us because the chair [Motaung Sr] has invested a lot of money into the academy.
— Kaizer Motaung Jr
Short of selling a large percentage to take on a mega-wealthy partner, Chiefs must figure out how to succeed in their format against an opponent in Sundowns with almost limitless financial stocks to draw on.
Motaung Jr, interviewed by TimesLIVE Premium, indicated an awareness of the deficiencies that contribute to the challenges Chiefs face. He admitted the model has to be towards ingenuity with the lesser resources than Downs.
“We need recruitment structures, but at the same time the youth product is very important to us because the chair [Motaung Sr] has invested a lot of money into the academy,” Motaung Jr said.
“It’s not just to have [youth products] playing in the DStv Diski Challenge [reserve team], but to prepare them for the first team. At the same time, we also have to go and compete in the market.
“We understand how the market is right now, and if we want the quality to compete, we have to have the right structures in the academy, right scouting and recruitment network — it's not one aspect but about all of these components.”
Even in the 2000s and 2010s Chiefs did scout quality players such as Collins Mbesuma, Patrick Mabedi and Knowledge Musona. Recent high-profile acquisitions such as Leonardo Castro, Keagan Dolly and Khama Billiat — in their prime when they won multiple trophies at Sundowns, but past their best when they got to Naturena — have not borne fruit.
Christian Saile, on the first impressions of the six league and cup games he’s played since being signed in January, looks more the kind of player Amakhosi need to scout. The 22-year-old Democratic Republic of the Congo striker might have only scored one goal, but his physical attributes and pace have brought desperately-needed punch upfront that seems to have been influential in Chiefs’ run of four wins, a defeat and a draw in six matches.
Motaung Jr believes more such quality signings in June, added to the promise in style of play under Zwane, whom the sporting director has publicly backed, can yield results in 2023-24.
“If you look at the amount of chances we have created this year, it’s immense. We brought in new players, captains [of other clubs] who have played for Bafana Bafana like Yusuf Maart. We are looking forward to June. There are many plans to see where the club needs reinforcement.”
On top of everything else there is a further challenge. The longer Chiefs do not win trophies, the more the pressure grows on any player brought in. “The players have to understand the environment because Chiefs are a top team and you have to have the mentality and character for it. It comes with the territory, so it’s up to them to make the supporters and the faithful proud.”
Chiefs will take stock after 2022-23 and assess what’s needed. Frankly, more meat on the bones in playing, scouting and technical staff is a measure that needs serious consideration if they are to start winning silverware again sooner rather than later.
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