Kaizer Chiefs have either pulled a stand-up comedian out of a hat or Amakhosi have brought us a magician whose tricks are yet to capture the imagination. Or not.
No one is dismissing Dutchman Rob Hutting as a clown.
But when he was officially introduced at Naturena Village, he turned the day into a wacky Wednesday, the little-known Dutchman indulging in horseplay that left members of the Boswell Wilkie circus dripping green with envy.
He seems a witty chappy, this 63-year-old whose glorious CV proffers a man who prefers swimming in the amateur ranks rather than battle it out in the dog-eat-dog fast lane of elite football.The gathered hacks were floored in rollicks of laughter as the new supervisor, oops technical director, nope, technical advisor, held court.
Google went into overdrive no sooner had Chiefs announced Hutting's appointment on their various social media platforms.
Internet research revealed little. Nothing notable, or something suitable, to suggest that Amakhosi had caught a big fish. If Steve Komphela is the big fish, you expect them to get a great shark to advise the big fish to stem a two-and-a-half season slide of no silverware. Or not.
We will find out soon enough whether Chiefs have been caught hook, line and sinker by a Dutch sardine. Or not.
Let us, to borrow from Paraffin Godamu, connect the dots. It's difficult not to deduce what is at play here despite the vociferous protestations of Bobby Motaung. It is not quite a state capture scenario, but chew on this: Komphela is on the last six months of his three-year contract. Out of the blue, Chiefs haul Hutting from the Dutch backwaters. They hand him a six-month contract with an option to renew.Chiefs are desperate for restoration to the head of the South African soccer top table. They enlist the services of someone with a nebulous track record that is no better than that of Komphela. My hunch is that Hutting will use the six months to acquaint himself with Chiefs' lay of the land.
Thereafter, he will ascend to the throne in the event of Chiefs and Komphela being stuck on a stalemate in their on-going contract extension negotiations.
What impression did Hutting make to convince Chiefs that he was the chosen one? "It's the character, not just the record. The record could be a number. It could be paper. But it's the aura of the man and the personality, and the experience he has got," said Motaung. The Love-and-Peace officialdom have upped the ante in the attraction stakes, seemingly taking a leaf from their skull- and-bone neighbours.
When it was pointed out that Kjell Jonevret hasn't done what The Ghost craved, winning a league championship, the response was incongruous. The attraction to the lanky Swede was his longevity, we were told. Six months was too much of a stretch and Jonevret was gone before you could finish your bottle of whisky.Hutting reminds one of Marcos Fallopa, the equally little-known Brazilian who was parachuted to this country by the South African Football Association.
Hutting is going to give Komphela a run for a quotable quote.
"Don't kill the baby before it is born," was Hutting's plea to the Chiefs faithful.
"You can choose: Either you want an internet coach, or you want a qualified coach," was another gem.
Hutting will work more on mental aspects, says Komphela. "There's an element in South Africa that I think is strongly lacking - the mental aspect of the game." Like making sure Chiefs players don't get scared of making mistakes because they fear a backlash on social media, right coach?..