FORMER Kaizer Chiefs STAR, Siphiwe “Shabba” Tshabalala, mentions that the coach who will take over the coaching of this team will have to prioritize maintaining the Makhosi culture.
Tshabalala, who won a number of titles with Chiefs in the past years, said this is how the team is expected to announce a coach soon who will fill the void left by the departure of Cedric Kaze and Khalil Ben Youssef who were coaching together. The contracts of these coaches were not renewed.
Among the coaches who are expected to fill the vacancy, the name of Fernando Da Cruz who is expected to be introduced soon is at the top.
This French-born coach, before the start of the 2024/25 season, was in Nasreddine Nabi’s team when he took over from Makhosi. At that time he was expected to work with Kaze and Ben Youssef who were Nabi’s deputies.
Although there are strong reports of Da Cruz’s return to Naturena, the fans are holding their noses as they believe that returning the team to Nabi who has done nothing but win the Nedbank Cup.
“The incoming coach comes with his own way of playing, but if it doesn’t work, he leaves.
Anyone else who comes, also comes with his own way of playing that will make no progress.
But if he bothers to know the culture of the team and its way of playing, he will definitely be able to do things in the right way that will bring success to the team. So it will be important for him to prioritize understanding the team’s culture before introducing his style of play,” said Tshabalala.
This veteran who played on the sides of the Kings, believes that any coach who takes over has a foundation to build on.
Amakhosi finished third in the Betway Premiership log for the recently concluded 2025/26 season.
“Someone will say that the Chiefs finishing in third place in the log last season was not a commendable thing, but if you look at how this team has done in previous seasons, that tells you that there is a difference.
They did better and were able to hold on and collect more points compared to previous seasons.
“You can’t play good football all the time, but the important thing is that even if you don’t play good football, you have to score points, which they were able to do,” said Tshabalala.
However, Tshabalala believes that the incoming coach will be under pressure, so he will have to understand the challenge he will face in coaching a team like Makhosi.
“Next season it will be a battle. There will be a lot of pressure, which means that the coach will have to understand that he has arrived at a place with pressure and fans who do not have the patience to endure.” The players will have to quickly get used to the way of playing that the incoming coach will introduce to them,” he said.
Amakhosi returned to the MTN8 after two seasons of failing to finish the season in the Top 8, and will play again in the Caf Confederation Cup.