Kaizer Chiefs had one of the worst seasons in their history in 2023-24, so where to now? Asks Mazola Molefe.

Mamelodi Sundowns winning a seventh consecutive title and Orlando Pirates continuing to add trophies as well as returning to CAF interclub football has once more put the spotlight on their below-par rivals Kaizer Chiefs.

The Glamour Boys are approaching a decade now without any major silverware, while their counterparts are flourishing.

Chiefs’ outgoing coach Cavin Johnson has been accused of being out of touch and labelled the “wrong” appointment to replace Molefi Ntseki, who lasted only 114 days in the job he had apparently accepted reluctantly anyway.

A lot has gone wrong at Naturena – players have regressed, those recruited have failed to deliver on expectations, and at the time of writing, finishing in the Top 8 appeared to be mission impossible for the Soweto giants.

It is fair to say that their fans are reeling, and perhaps so too is the entire football fraternity, who wish to see a strong Amakhosi challenging for trophies to match the stature and brand the institution has built over the years.

But Johnson was in denial even as he gave unsolicited advice to whoever would take over… without wanting to admit he was not the man for the job.

“Under my watch, most of the players have played for any amount of minutes. The building is there, we can see it. It’s about putting them together again,” he said when asked whether he truly believed Chiefs could be as good as Sundowns and Pirates.

“I think we match them, like you can see. Yes, every team in the world gets a hiding sometimes [referring to the 5–1 drubbing the Glamour Boys suffered against Sundowns on the night they won the DStv Premiership at Soccer City]. We all think our players are capable of matching another, especially at this level and a club like Kaizer Chiefs. We should match Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates.”

A couple of names – all foreign coaches – have been thrown around and linked to the hot seat at Naturena, among them Rui Vitória, Raúl Caneda and Miguel Gamondi.

Vitória’s last job was as Egypt’s national-team coach at the Africa Cup of Nations before leaving the post after nearly two years. Caneda was also unattached at the time of publishing, and Gamondi had joined Yanga Africans of Tanzania at the beginning of the 2023/24 season and was busy leading their charge to yet another title.

Their profiles suggest they are the kind of coaches who can come in and have an immediate impact at Chiefs, just as Nasreddine Nabi would have had if the Glamour Boys agreed to terms with the Tunisian instead of insisting on him keeping Arthur Zwane as his assistant.

Nabi proved his pedigree at both Yanga and AS FAR in Morocco. While there are some who believe the Chiefs problems are a lot deeper than just getting in a face on the bench, Johnson disagreed with that notion.

“The most important thing that I think is there for Chiefs is the brand, and the people that work for the institution. I believe there’s a lot of good that has been done behind the scenes and there’s a lot of good from the people that work here.

There will be, and I know there’s going to be, something that is improved and makes this brand better than it was before,” argued the man expected to return to his initial role as head of youth. Check out the highlights as Mamelodi Sundowns inflict a record defeat on Kaizer Chiefs.

“There’s a building process in everything that you do. It’s very difficult if you ask me to put a finger on the history of it [what has gone wrong]. But I think we, as Kaizer Chiefs, we need to work a lot harder in order to overtake the beast that has just won the championship. And in saying that, you also have to be humble and congratulate them for the work that they do.”

Johnson had made the promise to restore pride to Amakhosi when he took over from Ntseki, reintroducing young players before dumping them towards the end of the season as the going got tough and the Soweto giants dropped points.

Unfortunately, the former AmaZulu, Platinum Stars and Black Leopards coach, who also briefly worked as Pitso Mosimane’s assistant at Al Ahly, seems to have done more harm than good.

“It was up and down. It’s been difficult but has been nice as well – a learning curve. We learn from these mistakes, and you learn from the wins as well, that there’s certain things that you need to remember when you do them well as a coach. You’ve got to learn, which we do every day. I hope I am one of those,” Johnson summed up his tenure.