Under Gavin Hunt, the Clever Boys are in prime position to take another shot at PSL glory, writes MARK GLEESON in SoccerClub magazine.
The Bidvest Wits squad has never been stronger and Gavin Hunt makes no bones about it, but although they were runners-up last season, he is avoiding any talk of delivering a first championship.
‘In the four years I’ve been at the club, we’ve tried very hard to get the squad better and stronger. We are not a buying club, so we have had to be clever in the market. But we’ve got some good players,’ Hunt tells SoccerClub.
‘But chasing the Premiership title could be hindered by our participation in the African Champions League, which will be a first for Wits and a likely distraction.
‘I think it’s going to be difficult for us and Sundowns to repeat what we did last season. This could be the time when an outsider club springs a surprise. There is a lot of quality and a lot of fight in the PSL. There is not too much between the teams.’
Nevertheless, Wits have tasted victory in the MTN8 and the players will be looking for more. For Hunt, their 3-0 win over Sundowns in the final in Nelspruit at the beginning of October, means Wits could develop the positive frame of mind and confidence he felt had been lacking.
‘We are a club that doesn’t have a winning culture. We need to create that culture,’ he says. ‘The past two seasons we’ve amassed a record number of points for the club and had our best finishes in the league, but we won nothing.’
A long season is punctuated by a series of stoppages: for cup matches, internationals or the Africa Cup of Nations finals in January.
‘We have a burst of three games in a week and then we sit idle for three. It’s frustrating, trying to get momentum going. You have to adapt. There is no point moaning about it.’
It requires the ‘one game at a time’ approach. ‘They are all difficult and points are hard to come by. You can’t win the league by playing the same every game. The conditions in the PSL differ. Goble Park is not Soccer City, so you need to play in different ways. We’ve got the team to do it, and that’s important,’
For the moment, Hunt is going with the target man in Eleazar Rodgers, snapped up on a free transfer from Platinum Stars. Thabang Monare and Xola Mlambo add bite and 33-year-old Elias Pelembe has plenty of magic.
‘You’ve got to manage the players. You can’t be flogging them to death in all the games. Being smart will be key,’ the coach says.
About Hunt
With 687 top-flight matches under his belt at the start of the 2016-17 season, Gavin Hunt had more experience than any other PSL coach before Gordon Igesund returned to the league. The 52-year-old started out shortly after ending his playing career in Cape Town, taking over at new club Seven Stars and nurturing a teenage Benni McCarthy. A stint at Hellenic, his boyhood team, followed but it was at Black Leopards that he made his name, taking the unfancied club from Venda to a top-eight place and he won the Coach of the Year award in 2002. Moroka Swallows snatched him away and he delivered cup success in 2004, but it was at SuperSport United that Hunt established his reputation with three successive titles from 2008 to 2010. Wits pay him a salary of over R600 000 a month. In return he has taken them to second place in the league, the club’s highest position, and given them MTN8 success.
– This article first appeared in Issue 75 of SoccerClub magazine
