Kaizer Chiefs are cooking up a grand plan to bring prodigal son Doctor Khumalo back into the fold.
The Sunday Times can reveal that in a meeting held on Wednesday by the club hierarchy, influential figures who have the ear of club boss Kaizer Motaung want Khumalo to have a say on how to revive the flagging fortunes of a team that hasn't won a trophy in three years.
An insider privy to the planning process said Khumalo was earmarked to play a pivotal part in breathing life back into the ailing Amakhosi outfit.
"The idea is that Doctor will come back to serve as first team assistant coach to the new man the club will hire. Thereafter, he will be deployed as head of the academy so that he can inculcate the much talked-about Chiefs way of playing football," said the insider.
"The argument by those who want Doctor to return is that [there is] no better candidate as far as knowing the Chiefs DNA and way of playing."
Khumalo, who turns 51 in June, remains a firm favourite among Amakhosi faithful. He was visibly emotional when fans hugged him, shook his hands and called for his return after Baroka beat Chiefs 2-1 at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in September.
STERLING SERVICE
I'm not sure if anything has been signed at the moment. As you can appreciate, things are a bit sensitive and they are playing their cards close to the chest. "Doctor was certainly discussed at the meeting on Wednesday and there's definitely a strong push for him to come back home," said the insider.
Former Chiefs captain Patrick Mabedi is in charge of the team following the departure of Steve Komphela (whom Khumalo served as an assistant).
Khumalo is currently the technical adviser at Baroka FC, a role he assumed in August last year when the Chiefs legend left the club after almost 30 years.Baroka offered Khumalo the head coaching role after they suspended Kgoloko Thobejane in February but the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations winner turned it down.
One of the people who met Madala (Motaung) is Robert Nkuna, a prominent businessman who has a long association with the club and is often seen sitting alongside Motaung at matches.
"I have a job at Baroka and I respect it. It is up to the two teams to decide. But I am at home on both sides," said Khumalo.
If Chiefs want the new coach to be Luc Eymael, Motaung will have to fork out R2-million to bring the eccentric Belgian to Naturena Village."Luc has a R2-million buyout clause at Stars. If he goes to Rantsi Mokoena (Stars general manager) and says Chiefs have called and I want to go, there is nothing they can do to stop him," said a source.
"Chiefs will just have to pay to get him released from his two-year contract."
Mokoena said there had been no communication between Stars and Chiefs regarding Eymael. It appears Amakhosi will not keep Robert Hutting, the little-known Dutchman they hired in January as a technical adviser. The Sunday Times has learnt that Hutting had a tiff with football manager Bobby Motaung and Komphela a few weeks ago.
Khumalo gave sterling service to Chiefs as a player, u-17 coach and assistant coach and scout. Khumalo, together with Donald "Ace" Khuse as co-coaches, guided Chiefs to a 12-match unbeaten run in the 2002-03 season.
Ironically Eymael was responsible for eliminating Chiefs from the Nedbank Cup. The 2-0 result sparked riots by angry Amakhosi fans who assaulted security personnel, destroyed broadcasting equipment, advertising boards and set seats on fire at the Moses Mabhida Stadium last weekend.
Komphela resigned with immediate effect at the post-match press conference...