Era of 'short cuts' over as Chiefs rebuild

The announcement that Kaizer Motaung Jnr would take over as Kaizer Chiefs sporting director in July elicited predictable excitement from the club’s supporters.

Suddenly, they saw in him a breath of fresh air, someone young enough and familiar with modern direction the club needs to take to become a dominant force once again.

At the base of Amakhosi faithful’s frustration has been the now six-year trophy drought, which Motaung is all too aware of as he settles into his new role.

But as an air of optimism surrounds Naturena amid the lifting of the stunting transfer-ban which saw them fail to reinforce a hugely limited squad last season, Motaung has warned the process to return to the glory will be painstaking and arduous.

“It cannot be overnight,” he cautioned. “It would be presumptuous to comment on what has been happening the past six years, without proper information. But what is clear is that something has not been working. I can categorically say that the standard we’ve set has declined, and our mission should be to get it back up where it’s supposed to be.”

Key to a return to winning ways, according to Motaung, will be what he terms “alignment” of all associated with the club. “There has been a misalignment, for sure,” he said. “We should seek to restore our core values and principles across the board; from management to players to supporters.

"The results haven’t been there and it’s clear you can’t take short cuts on performance. This trophy drought has showed us that we need to have a foundation, a playing system, a philosophy, an identity... ingredients we used to have. We have to get back to the basics – not cut corners.”

It is true that during this trophy lull, Chiefs did come close on no fewer than five occasions: they lost two cup finals in 2015, another in 2019, and infamously surrendered the league leadership to Mamelodi Sundowns in the final half-an-hour of the 2020/21 season.

But it was this year’s run in the CAF Champions League, which ended in defeat to Al Ahly, that Motaung feels whereas it showed a lot of promise, was ultimately undone by their frailties.

“It was a proper learning curve. We can be proud that we had five of our academy products in the team which secured our historic spot in the group phases. The highest honour of any club is to win the Fifa Club World Cup.

"That means we have to dominate locally, and then on the continent. It’s the vision of the chairman [Kaizer Motaung Snr]. We saw this when we were named African Club of the Year for 2001 [after winning the CAF Cup Winners Cup, known as Mandela Cup, and two domestic trophies].”