With Kaizer Chiefs thought to be considering the future of current head coach Arthur Zwane, speculation on a possible replacement has not stopped.
Zwane was appointed Chiefs head coach on a three-year deal, but did not enjoy the best of debut seasons at the club, which has reportedly had them looking around.
It is believed that Chiefs were already hoping to appoint a senior coach alongside Zwane and his current assistant Dillon Sheppard, in an effort to guide the young duo through their first season in a gigantic job, that comes with unforgiving demands from the massive and trophy starved Amakhosi faithful. It is then believed that Zwane was not interested in that arrangement.
Even so, one of the figures already in the structures at Chiefs, was approached by club management for the role alongside Zwane and Sheppard, but Molefi Ntseki is believed to be thought to be very happy with his role overseeing the football matters across the academy and first team at Naturena. It is also believed that the club itself, is content with the job he has done since assuming that position two years ago.
Besides Molefi, it has often been thought that Chiefs are eyeing Sundowns assistant coach Manqoba Mngqithi to do the role. However, despite being demoted for Rulani Mokwena at the Brazilians, it is believed that Mngqithi is happy at the club and wants to at least see out the last year of his contract at the club.
Now while Mngqithi may be committed and unavailable, one former Sundowns coach could well become available and would be a massive option for Chiefs. That of course, is none other than Pitso Mosimane. Mosimane is the most decorated South African coach having won leagues and cups both on the continent and in the Middle East. If the latest reports are anything to go by, his current side Al Ahli are looking to release him after his contract expires. That, seemingly very strange after helping to awake a sleeping giant back to the top division.
For Chiefs, however, they could be waiting in the wings with keen interest and now in an interview with Soccer-Laduma, Mosimane’s wife Moria Tlhagale, a few possible hints were given on what the next project should be like, with some of those points strongly mirroring the issues at Naturena.
MOSIMANE’S AMBITIONS TAILORED FOR CHIEFS?
“The one key thing that comes out of our conversations all the time is that it has to be a project. Most of the jobs that coach Pitso has taken have been projects. (Mamelodi) Sundowns had seven years of not winning anything and then he took over – I mean, we all know what happened with Sundowns. I think with the Al Ahly story, it was also a project, but they approached us because remember, they were embarrassed in their history with a 5-0 (defeat), and who is the person who we believe understands the African market better than anybody?” Said Tlhagale
The next one was an even bigger hint, touching on Al Ahly’s Champions League drought,
SIMILAR PATTERN OF PAST JOBS A HINT?
“They had seven years also of not winning the Champions League and we got two Champions Leagues in 10 months. We were approached by a lot of different teams. Others we said no (to) because it made no sense in terms of a project. We need a project and a project is something that he always says he wants to leave the jersey in a better space than he got it, not in the worst case.”
That sounds exactly like the situation Chiefs has of having almost nine seasons without winning a trophy. If you look at what Mosimane did with another fallen giant in Saudi Arabia, then which other similar project could be more enticing to him than reviving and bringing back the glamour days of his boyhood club? Amakhosi management are you paying attention?
