By Valerie Mmanthe Mampshika June 07, 2021
Gavin Hunt signed a three-year contract with the Kaizer Chiefs football club which ended in less than a year. Coaches are expected to improve the interaction with the players to ensure that the team has adequate goals to keep them in the league, and to choose the right combination of players that play well together.
Although Mr Hunt was fired, the team managed to reach the semi-finals of the CAF Champions League for the first time in the club’s history under his wing. Ex-Kaizer Chiefs midfielder Jabulani Mendu believes that the decision to cut ties with Gavin Hunt was for reasons beyond the pitch and possibly had to do with a disagreement in the boardroom with the management, irregardless of the effort Gavin made to transition the performance of the team.Although Mr Hunt was fired, the team managed to reach the semi-finals.
Kaizer Chiefs is one of the South African teams that have a new coach every now and then, but the question whether the results of the team are determined by the leadership skills of the coach is left unanswered. On one hand the management is responsible for the performance of the players on the field ensuring that they are well represented, but at the same time the coach is accountable for the day to day training and dealing with the players individually to keep them motivated.
There are plenty reasons why Mr Hunt was not a good fit for the team anymore which was a suggestions made by Mr Eshlin Vedan. Firstly, Kaizer Chiefs lost a match against Black Leopards which is considered the worst team in the Premier Soccer League. Secondly, the former Kaizer Chiefs coach Mr Stuart Baxter has availed himself to take over, and to bring Molefi Ntseki as his assistant. Furthermore, Mr Hunt’s strategy was to field players out of their natural position which did not work in his favour, and he did not have faith in his players by mentioning that some of them are not assets to the team. Hunt could not comprehend how they were chosen to be part of the well-known team in the country.
The end of some opportunities are the beginning of new opportunities, therefore Mr Hunt will definitely be hired soon by another football club, and hopefully Mr Baxter will be able to fill in the big shoes in order to restore hope for the team and the Amakhosi supporters to avoid being sacked for the second time, in simpler terms anything is possible at Naturena!
