Kaizer Chiefs coach receives backing from unexpected source

For Kaizer Chiefs, this season has turned out to be another one to forget, with Thursday’s heavy loss to league champions Mamelodi Sundowns proving what a gulf there is between the two teams.

When coach Cavin Johnson initially took over on an interim basis, there seemed to be some resurgence in results, but it’s all gone downhill in 2024.

Chiefs are currently dwindling down in eighth place on the DStv Premiership log after a forgettable run of results.

After the club parted ways with Molefi Ntseki in October 2023, Johnson has been effectively filling in on a temporary basis, but it’s already been confirmed that he won’t be part of the senior coaching set-up next season.

Increasingly it has seemed like a poor decision to appoint an interim coach in the midst of an ongoing campaign, but Sundowns’ Mokwena has emphatically stated that Johnson deserves more respect.

“We don’t respect our own. I don’t think he [Johnson] gets the respect he deserves… It is bittersweet [the win over Johnson’s Chiefs] because I admire him a lot,” said Mokwena, as quoted by FARPost. “I think he has done incredible work. He maybe doesn’t get [the recognition he deserves].”

“But it is like that in South Africa. I mean, the guy [Johnson] has produced so many top professional football players. He has coached at clubs like Platinum Stars and SuperSport and has won trophies.

“Coach Cavin has done incredible work for this country. He is an incredible human being. I think the Kaizer Chiefs staff can attest to that. He is a very good person. And I have always said that I don’t want to be a good coach if I can’t be a good human being. That is where I am. So it is very difficult and bittersweet. But it is football. I’m sure he also understands.”

What’s next for the Kaizer Chiefs’ interim coach?

“We communicated from the onset that Cavin would be there on an interim basis, and there will very much be a different technical structure next season,” Kaizer Chiefs sporting director Kaizer Motaung Jr said via TimesLIVE.

There was recently some talk that Chiefs bosses could even consider removing Johnson before the end of the season, but it’s become apparent that he will instead remain at the helm for the time being.

HUNTING FOR A NEW MANAGEMENT TEAM

Several names, such as Pitso Mosimane, Manqoba Mngqithi and even Benni McCarthy, have been linked to the Chiefs coaching gig, but what’s clear is that a world-class management team with expert insights is seen as a priority.

Yet it now remains to be seen whether Chiefs can find what they’re looking for.

“The wheels have been in motion for quite a while now. We’re also not just looking at it as if it’s a one-man coach; we’re looking at it in terms of what we need and we’ll be making all the changes we need to make that are going to take us in the direction we need to go in,” Motaung Jr commented last month.

“For us [Kaizer Chiefs] to achieve what we want to achieve is not just going to take one person (a head coach) or technical staff, it is going to take a lot of people, structures and elements that need to work, that haven’t been working for many years.

“We are very much cognisant of what needs to be done and what we have not got right in the past. We are focused on the future and want to make sure we make the right decisions,” he added.