OPINION | Khune deserved better from Chiefs than two signed jerseys in a near-empty stadium

The desperate depths the once-mighty Kaizer Chiefs have sunk to were laid bare in front of a near-empty FNB Stadium on Saturday with a scant ‘honour’ of club legend and goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune.

On the auspicious occasion when the club was honouring and thanking veteran goalkeeper Khune for the monumental achievement of 25 years of unbroken service, included in which was much success and many trophies, a disappointing crowd turned out to witness the moment.

When the match started, the crowd was poor but improved slightly later, and you cannot blame the fans for not pitching up because the club has simply become a pale shadow of its former self.

Khune's moment to be honoured — which, to some extent, seemed a deflection effort from Amakhosi from their poor end to a dismal ninth campaign without silverware, where they are battling to preserve eighth place — might have drawn in more spectators had Chiefs not publicised it so poorly. The club made a low-key announcement of the event on Thursday, with no other build-up or publicity.

It was a sorry sight to see Khune, arguably the best goalkeeper of his generation or even the best this country has produced, waving to a small but excited crowd before and after the match.

The occasion was also stained by their uninspiring performance, drawing 0-0 against Polokwane City, a result that left Chiefs in serious danger of missing out on the MTN8 next season. Then again, Amakhosi have disintegrated into an also-ran, middle-of-the-table team who have won only nine of their 29 league matches this season and they go to the final day of the campaign having to win to avoid missing the top half for the second time in 17 seasons.

Chiefs have been in a sorry state for a decade and even the celebration of a legend was never going to be enough to lure supporters, who have grown apathetic towards the club.

This happened while thousands of kilometres away, Mamelodi Sundowns were setting the new record of the most points (72) achieved in the 16-team Premiership era with their 22nd win of the season over Stellenbosch, beating their record set in 2015-16. The Brazilians, who won the league with six matches to spare, are on course to go the entire league season without a defeat if they win their remaining matches against TS Galaxy and Cape Town City.

The future of Khune, whose contract ends in June, hangs in the balance as both the player and the club have not clarified whether he will be staying on or leaving Naturena. Last year, Chiefs announced this will be his last playing contract before venturing into coaching and an ambassadorial role to continue his long and deep-rooted ties with the club that stems back to their development, but Khune later contradicted that, insisting he still wants to play.

The relationship between Khune and the club has been tumultuous recently and he was suspended in December for disciplinary issues, the 36-year-old rejoining the team in March. Since he returned from suspension, Khune was on the bench against AmaZulu last week and was introduced for Bruce Bvuma for the remaining 15 minutes against Polokwane to mark the occasion in his honour for his fifth league appearance of the season.

If he continues his relationship with the club, fans deserve to know in what capacity to avoid unnecessary speculation during an off-season where Chiefs have hard decisions to make. In the 2024-25 preseason, the leadership at Chiefs needs to focus on the mission of finding a coach and movement of players, and not questions about the future of a legend whose future may not be decided by then.

As occasions that honour club legends go, Khune deserved much better than a low-key ceremony being presented two signed jerseys in front of a near empty-stadium.

Among successes Khune achieved at Chiefs are three league titles (2004-2005, 2012-2013 and 2014-2015) and four domestic cups before the drought hit Naturena. A more fitting honour for Khune would have been a benefit year, which would have been marked by a series of high and low-profile events where he would be properly celebrated.

I understand relations between the club and the player may be fractured at the moment, but Chiefs should have pulled out all the stops to ensure their biggest star of recent times was celebrated in the best possible way.

In many ways, the way Amakhosi have handled Khune is the way most South Africans teams generally treat their departing biggest stars and legends. I don’t remember a local club having a benefit year or game for a player recently. We have had high-profile retirements in local football and most clubs just close the chapter and move on as if nothing has happened. That needs to change because many of these players leave an indelible mark on their clubs.

In recent years, we have seen retirements of stalwarts such as Lucky Lekgwathi and Happy Jele at Pirates, Hlompho Kekana and Teko Modise at Sundowns, just to name a few, resigning. Their departures are usually marked by a statement and a fancily edited social media video, but this is simply not enough.

These things cost money, but if a lot of planning goes into them, club sponsors and other companies could be brought on board to raise the funds to send off club legends in a memorable manner. They could make that money back in the exposure such a high-profile occasion would bring them.

What happened at FNB Stadium on Saturday, was a poor excuse for honouring a club legend. Itumeleng Khune deserved much better than two framed jerseys.