‘Please be patient’ while Nabi grooms Chiefs over next six weeks

THE message for Kaizer Chiefs’ long-suffering fans from new coach Nasreddine Nabi has a Telkom ring about it: Please be patient.

This at least was the word from the Tunisian-born Nabi, after last week’s 0-4 defeat in Bloemfontein.

After nine trophyless seasons, Chiefs’ fans have been extremely patient, although they could be forgiven if their frustrations boil over when their team suffers another defeat.

Over the next few weekends, their fans’ noses will be out of joint because their beloved team will not be vying for the lucrative R10 million in booty up for grabs in the MTN8 competition. As the 10th-best Premiership side, Chiefs have been reduced to MTN8 onlookers.

At this rate, Chiefs can hardly justify their standing as a player in South Africa’s “Big Three”, but the Amakhosi have by far the biggest fan base in the country. Their kit sponsor’s representative, Ricky Joseph, last week reminded all and sundry about Chiefs’ great commercial power: “I can tell you that last season Kaizer Chiefs sold double more jerseys than Orlando Pirates without lifting a trophy.”

Chiefs’ substantial fan base has remained steadfast despite a lack of success, so they will not lose their “Big Three” status.

Last week, Chiefs wore their new kit with a new coach in tow. However, there was nothing new about their performance as they were hammered 4-0 by Tanzanian giants Young Africans SC in the Toyota Cup clash at Toyota Stadium, Bloemfontein.

If Chiefs’ fans felt disappointed with that performance, their feelings would have been justified by what the Young Africans coach Miguel Gamondi said afterwards. The gist of his comment was that Chiefs’ players were not good enough.

“As a coach, you can work inside the pitch during the week, but if you don’t have quality it’s going to be difficult,” he said.

The Argentinian Gamondi is a former Mamelodi Sundowns coach and is familiar with the lie of the land in the Premiership. He added that Chiefs will battle against teams such as Sundowns, Orlando Pirates and even Cape Town City unless they change tack.

No sooner had Gamondi returned to Tanzania than Nabi expressed his reservations about players in the squad he was given. He confirmed what Gamondi said, although he was tactful about it.

“The club has made some errors in signing players that were not needed. Players that were not the quality of Kaizer Chiefs.

“We need to be careful with the calibre of players we choose to meet the expectations,” he said.

This amounts to a dig at Chiefs’ management, who for the past few months, have been warned ad nauseam about their lack of know-how in the day-to-day running of the club. Despite this, they continued to hire and fire players.

At this stage, Chiefs’ management has done the damage and now it’s a case of having made their bed and lying in it.

Since Chiefs are not playing in the MTN8 competition, they will have the benefit of ample time to prepare for the start of the Premiership season in mid-September.

Over 14 days in September, Chiefs will play four matches, and that will give fans a taste of what to expect this season. They open their account in Bloemfontein against newcomers Marumo Gallants (September 14), then host Stellenbosch (September 22), then travel to Durban to play AmaZulu (September 25) and finally host champions Sundowns (September 28).

The football fans in Bloemfontein are starved for elite football matches and Chiefs are likely to attract a full house against Marumo Gallants, who are looking to find a way into the hearts of Free State’s footie fans.