Kaizer steps in to save his Chiefs: when saying sorry is simply the right thing to do

Kaizer Motaung proved on Thursday that he is as sharp off the field at 67 as he was on it, when he was tearing American defences apart 40 years ago.

Affectionately known as “Tshintsha Guluva” for his ability to confound the opposition, the founder and father of Kaizer Chiefs came out with a humble apology for his son Bobby’s behaviour with impeccable timing – about an hour after I called for South Africa’s greatest footballing icon to do exactly that on Twitter and Facebook (see www.twitter.com/nealcol).

While so many of the South African newspapers preferred to focus on the Currie Cup and cyling (The Star in particular!), the captaincy saga at the Amakhosi has been the real sporting story of the week. And in one brave statement, Kaizer has eased the fears of an estimated 14 million Amakhosi with these words: “I would like to convey, with great humility, my heartfelt regret and unreserved apologies at the offence these comments have caused to many of our supporters; people who are at the heart of Kaizer Chiefs.”

When I suggested football manager Bobby Motaung, Kaizer’s son, had upset the fans on Thursday, I was subject to personal abuse and anonymous phone calls – though there was also a significant groundswell of support for daring to reflect exactly how repugnant nepotism is, even in a family-run business.

Bobby, while shrugging off the storm over Jimmy Tau’s loss of the captain’s armband without conviction, said at his press conference: “As for those who dream that Bobby Motaung must step down, that Bobby Motaung must go, it is a dream! Bobby Motaung goes nowhere. I was not appointed by ANC or IFP. I did not apply for this job, I did not submit a CV. My father invested his life in this club, this is a family business. You must understand that. I will be here as long as this company exists.”

Such arrogance is simply unacceptable to the legions of Amakhosi fans who pay good money to watch their side and buy their gold-and-black replica shirts. As I said on Thursdsay: No fans means no club. That is the universal mantra of global football, no matter who runs the club or how much money is pumped in to it.

I would love to delve further into the email exchanges, the twitter twangles, the Facebook furore, the kick-off.com conflicts (total responses number 3,000 and rising as I write) which surrounded Thursday’s blog, which gained more hits than any of my stuff, even during the World Cup last year when I was launching a stout defence of South Africa’s ability to host a near-perfect tournament.

Suffice to say, 90 percent of the responses were positive. A cruel minority were unbelievably personal and abusive. Many called for a boycott of their beloved club, starting in Polokwane on Saturday night, when they face Platinum Stars for a second successive week after last Sunday’s dreadful 2-1 Telkom Knock-out defeat.

Kaizer Motaung has ensured that boycott will not go ahead. The Peter Mokabe stadium will be rocking. Chiefs will kick-off against the Dikwena at 8.15pm on Saturday night with Tinashe Nengomasha captaining the team while goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune, a good choice in my opinion, will take over the armband when he is fully recovered from a bout of pneumonia in a fortnight.

As always, the ageless Kaizer is one step ahead of the game. I believe his apology justifies everything I wrote on Thursday. It may even save Bobby Motaung’s job, though many are still calling for his head. But that isn’t the point. Below, lifted from the Kaizer Chiefs website, is the full text of the executive chairman’s statement.

Read it. Understand it. Kaizer Motaung may run a family business, but unlike his son, he recognises Kaizer Chiefs also belongs to the estimated 14 million Amakhosi fans within South Africa’s borders and beyond. Kaizer has given the club back to the people. End of.

The Executive Chairman’s Statement

Following the press conference yesterday when the team’s captaincy issue was addressed and at which the Football Manager made certain unfortunate comments, I would like to convey, with great humility, my heartfelt regret and unreserved apologies at the offence these comments have caused to many of our supporters; people who are at the heart of Kaizer Chiefs.

We are only here because of their support over the years and I would like to assure our supporters that we will never take their support for granted; we sincerely appreciate that Kaizer Chiefs’ success has been due to their unflinching support whether we have won or lost.

Like most teams we too have our challenges and because of our profile some of these challenges have to be addressed under the glare of the public eye. The emotive nature of the game of soccer means that, at times, comments are made in the heat of the moment and should be considered in that light. This is however not making light of certain comments which I consider are inappropriate.

We intend to do our utmost to honour the support we receive and I personally would like to reassure our supporters that my personal endeavour is to make them proud of being Kaizer Chiefs fans by winning and by conducting ourselves with grace and humility.

Mr. Kaizer Motaung, Executive Chairman

The Great Amakhosi captaincy saga: Why Bobby Motaung should prepare his CV.

“Everything we do is in order. If there is a baby crying in the house, it does not mean there are issues between the father and the mother. The issue of the captain does not mean that there is a crisis at the club. This chapter must be closed.”

With those words, Bobby Motaung probably thought he was drawing the great Kaizer Chiefs captaincy saga to a graceful conclusion.

The Amakhosi’s “football manager” is deluded of course. But that’s what happens when you’re the son of the Amakhosi’s founder, when your sister Jessica runs the marketing side of the nation’s biggest club and your currently-injured brother Kaizer Junior – arguably a better cricketer than footballer in his youth - is on the physio’s couch waiting to return to the lead role.

In fact, if you’re a Motaung, it must be hard to keep a grip on reality 41 years after the heroic Kaizer returned from the United States and took South African football by storm.

That Kaizer Motaung is a footballing colossus is not in dispute. That Tshintsha Guluva (rough translation: Confounder of Defenders) was unearthed as a 16-year-old prodigy by Orlando Pirates at the tender age of 16 is fact. That former West Ham star Phil Woosnam spotted him playing in Zambia in 1968 and took him to Atlanta Chiefs where he became a US All Star is the stuff of South African soccer history.

The question is : can the 67-year-old entrust the running of the club he established in 1970 to his children and still count on the unquestioning support of an estimated 14 million Amakhosi ?

Two weeks ago, when Chiefs captain Jimmy Tau was reported to have resigned the captaincy, Bobby told Robert Marawa’s excellent Discovery Sports Centre show on Metro FM that there was no problem, Jimmy was still the captain, he had NOT had a row with coach Vladimir Vermezovic and that “everything is normal. There is no story here”.

After the listless Telkom Knockout defeat against Platinum Stars over the weekend, an under-pressure VV emerged to tell us Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune would be elevated to the captaincy.

But just last season, the 24-year-old Khune admitted: “I'm still young and certainly not ready to be a captain. I still need two more seasons or so before I can say I'm ready. Right now, I joke around with everyone from youngsters to senior players.

“Now can you imagine if I come to training and start dishing out instructions to the very same youngsters I was joking with? They will think I'm mad because I was joking with them a few seconds ago. So for the next two years I need to cut down on the joking and playful ways before I can say I'm ready to be a Chiefs captain,”

Months later, Khune is the new on-field leader of the Amakhosi. Backed by a gathering of “four captains” available to the Amakhosi. Tau’s name is not among them. Distrust, disbelief, dissonance reign supreme. The club appear to be running rough-shod over the truth, with their faithful millions left to guess the reality.

Just what happened to Tau? Why Khune? On Monday, Tinashe Nengomasha, the teak-tough Zimbabwean, was appointed captain. A mere 24 hours later, Khune was installed, though he did not feature in VV’s “four captains”: Kaizer Junior, George Lebese, Nengomasha and Tlou Molekwane.

Now I am reliably informed Nengomasha will “probably” captain Chiefs in the League game against Platinum Stars this weekend as Khune needs another two weeks to recover from an untimely bout of pneumonia.

The club said the Khune decision had been taken after consultations between VV, his technical team and club management. No mention was made of Khune’s admission that he was too young for the job for at least another two years. Nor of his current ailment.

Last season Chiefs, winners of 78 trophies in those incredible 41 years since the Kaizer from Orlando East came home, saw arch-rivals Pirates win an unprecedented treble. In pre-season, Pirates picked up the Carling Black Label Cup to further upset their Sowetan rivals, ironically on the back of a glaring Khune penalty shoot-out miss. Some say you can still see his spot-kick in orbit over Johannesburg.

This season Chiefs are already out of two cups and adrift in the title race, questions are rightly being asked.

So Bobby stepped up to the plate at the club’s high-tension press conference on Wednesday and told us Khune was the right choice, that everything was running fine, that there had never been any dispute with Tau. He told us: "We have deliberated on this issue and where the story came from. But it is normal to have internal issues and where a player might disagree. Jimmy is just one of the 27 players in the club and available to do duty when called upon by the coach. He is contracted to Kaizer Chiefs."

Then Bobby produced his trump card. His surname.

With these words he destroyed any scrap of credibility he had left: “As for those who dream that Bobby Motaung must step down, that Bobby Motaung must go, it is a dream! Bobby Motaung goes nowhere. I was not appointed by ANC or IFP… I will be here as long as this company exists.

“I did not apply for this job, I did not submit a CV. My father invested his life in this club, this is a family business. You must understand that. We are all working to ensure Chiefs dominate.”

Yup. Like the school bully with the headmaster father. The wayward prince with the elderly regent as his protector. Nepotism at its worst. While the thousands of Kaizer Chiefs fans fork out their hard-earned clash to follow their team and buy the new gold-and-black striped “zebra” kit, the Motaung family are apparently impervious to outside pressure.

It can’t be right. Clearly, there was substance to the Tau story. And it’s plain Khune is being forced to take the captain’s armband with Kaizer Junior waiting in the wings to take charge when he’s fit. Not a bad choice, but increasingly difficult to sell to the success-hungry Amakhosi hordes.

Bobby went on to say: "We have lost two cups already and we are worried about that, and now we have to fight for the league and the remaining cup.”

With Platinum Stars back on the agenda in a league clash this weekend, he ended with: "Our message to our supporters is that let us give the coach a chance."

Your supporters? That faithful bunch who continually talk about Amakhosi rising to the occasion? Without the finger-waving millions, Bobby, Kaizer Chiefs would be nothing. The same can be said of every professional football club.

And if I were you, I’d be looking very carefully at this quote from VV on Wednesday when he was asked why the excellent Siphiwe Tshabalala was not considered for leadership: "Tshabalala still wants to go overseas. If you make him captain and then he leaves in January then what do you do?"

No fans, no Tshabalala, no club. Start preparing that CV, Bobby. Next time, you may need it.

Why the Soweto giants should be able to match the passion of El Classico

ONE glance at this week’s fascinating El Classico and you know exactly where you want to see that level of competition, that win-at-all-costs mentality; a combustible derby that drives fans wild, Brazilians nuts... and forces special men like Jose Mourinho to stick his finger in Catalan eyes.

Bring it on at the next Soweto derby, I say. Quite possibly in the MTN8 final if Orlando Pirates see off Mamelodi Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs outgun Ajax Cape Town over the two legs of the semi-finals kicking off this weekend.

When Barcelona edged Real Madrid 3-2 to win the Spanish Super Cup 5-4 on aggregate, the world looked on breathless. Scintillating football, two dynamite goals from the diminutive Lionel Messi, a red card for Marcello for scything down Cesc Fabregas on debut – all bathed in the implacable glow of hatred that erupts when two tribes go to war and football goes to Hollywood.

South Africa’s Premier League can offer exactly that. The parallels are all there. Just like La Liga, the local set-up offers only two real giants – trophy-grabbing Barcelona (Orlando Pirates) and frustrated also-rans Real Madrid (Kaizer Chiefs) with sides like Valencia (Ajax Cape Town), Villarreal (Mamelodi Sundowns) struggling to compete despite a lack of resources and, ultimately, a far smaller fan base.

Like Barcelona, Pirates are the people’s team, with a huge following and three trophies behind them, like Real Madrid, Kaizer Chiefs are the historical favourites who often appear to back by parastatal forces such is the desire for success – but despite vast spending they just can’t get one over on Pirates, as we saw at the recent Carling Black Label Cup Final, where Itumeleng Khune’s penalty gave the Buccaneers victory in a shoot-out.

If you brave the cold night air and gaze at the stars, legend has it you can still see Khune’s penalty orbiting the globe. Or so Irvin Khosa, the Piratical Iron Duke, would have us believe.

But come back to earth. Consider the further parallels between Spain’s La Liga and the Absa Premier. How about the third force? Those separatist Basques at Real Sociedad (Amazulu) and the isolated populist strongholds like Real Mallorca (Bloemfontein Celtic) and Zaragoza (Platinum Stars)... and the also rans in the big cities like Atletico Madrid (Moroka Swallows) and Getafe (Supersports United).

Essentially though, it is all about the two giants. They have the resources, the fan base, the sponsors, to push themselves way beyond the rest. Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs should be contenders for continental domination, they shouldn’t be skirmishing with the also-rans domestically.

With Benni McCarthy (an inflated version of Lionel Messi) back on home soil, the promise of an African Champions League becomes real if Bafana Bafana’s top scorer can just stay fit. Real Madrid fans (and Gary Bailey on Supersport) insist the same is true of Messi and Barca. One injury to the little one and all is lost.

Kaizer Chiefs, with Bernard Parker (a hard-working Cristiano Ronaldo) signed up and Lehlehonolo Majoro (a spikey-haired Kaka) urging them on, can look to the skills of custodian Itumeleng Khune (a superior Iker Casillas) to keep their challenge on line.

Oh, we can dream. Saturday, September 10. The MTN8 final. Forget the Spanish Super Cup, this one’s worth R8million to the winners.

Imagine Siphiwe Tshabalala opens the scoring for Chiefs with a 30-yard cracker reminiscent of his World Cup opening effort against Mexico just over a year ago.

Pirates respond with a flurry of horrific challenge before McCarthy, making his long-awaited first start for the Buccaneers, bending home a 25-yard free-kick with Khune confounded just before half-time.

On the sidelines, Amakhosi boss Vladimir Vermezovic reverts to his Russian roots and sticks his finger firmly in the eye of Bucsalona’s Brazilian boss Julio Leal. In the ensuing riot, Chiefs owner Kaizer Motuang, with General Manager Bobby and player-son Junior in attendance, bashes the Iron Duke with marketing manager and daughter Jessica’s handbag.

Somehow peace is restored. Early in the second half, the resurgent Josta Dladla gets on the end of a Bernard Parker cross to volley brilliantly past Moneeb Josephs, just minutes after being scythed down. Dladla celebrates with blood running down his shins and, amid incredible scenes, Tinashe Nengomasha is red carded for showing an elaborate v-sign to Irvin Khosa in the stands.

Josephs, furious, throws his gloves away and dons an outfielders shirt, determined to make his presence felt.

And Pirates hit back, with Isaac Chansa levelling to complete the Zambian’s comeback from a worrying ankle injury.

It’s all too much. Extra-time looms. And then it’s McCarthy, too fat for West Ham, not fit enough for WC2010, breaking through the middle, he beats too many Chiefs and not enough Indians, and rams the winner into the top corner. Cue pandemonium.

In the zebra stripes, substitutes Mthokozisi Yende and Thomas Sweswe are then sent off as a mass brawl erupts but the jubilant Pirates, looking ahead to an African Champions League victory, ignore the angry Amakhosi fans to dance their victory jig.

The skull and crossbones flies high. The world is tuned in to witness a truly astonishing clash between South Africa’s Sowetan soccer giants. The global audience is unanimous in agreement: what a derby, right up there with Real v Barca, Celtic v Rangers, Man U v Man C. Phew.

Ah, we can dream. In fluent Spanish.

MTN8 Semi-finals:

Saturday, 20 August 2011

Kaizer Chiefs vs. Ajax Cape Town 20h15 MTN05

FNB Stadium

Sunday, 21 August 2011

Orlando Pirates vs. Mamelodi Sundowns 15h00 MTN06

Orlando Stadium

Saturday, 27 August 2011

Ajax Cape Town vs Kaizer Chiefs 20h15 MTN07

Cape Town Stadium

Sunday, 28 August 2011

Mamelodi Sundowns vs. Orlando Pirates 15h00 MTN08

Loftus Versfeld.