“I gave Vision 2014 and I have always called it Vision 2014 when I was appointed, it was not Vision 2012 or 2011.”

I thought it would be best to start this piece with one of Pitso’s many quotable quotes. The man knew how to get the nation talking about Bafana and about Coach Pitso, always managing to draw the match attention to himself.

At this moment in time, every South Africa soccer fan (and part time fan) will know that Pitso Mosimane has been relieved of his duties (and most will now have found out what the former Supersport United coach was earning as national team coach).   Most of the people that I have spoken to are of the opinion that he should be fired and/or should have been fired ages ago. This is football and we are all entitled to our own opinions but I do not feel he should have been fired, especially at this point in time with important matches coming up.

Pitso Mosimane’s record in the hot Bafana Bafana seat was pretty average, it must be said. He managed to win six matches, lost three, and, as many will point out to you in the coming weeks, he drew seven internationals. He also failed to take Bafana Bafana to the 2012 African Cup of Nations. However, I feel there were other factors that led to his dismissal besides results.

Pitso failed to convince most South African football fans and his bosses due to (1) unsatisfactory results (2) his reluctance to select older players such as the 2011/2012 PSL top goal scorer, and finally, as I have mentioned, (3) his public outbursts.

If “Vision 2014” really existed then the issue of failing to qualify for AFCON 2012 would be ignored or dismissed as a pothole on the road to success by the suits at SAFA House. The South African Football Association (SAFA) kept faith in their man, rightly so, and kept him in the job despite the fact that he had failed to get Bafana to play in the continental competition. Bafana Bafana then proceeded to only manage three draws and one loss (to Zimbabwe) before the Ethiopia game. If SAFA decided to keep faith in their man despite him failing to qualify for AFCON 2012, does this mean that he was fired for unsatisfactory results in the four friendly matches and single 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier that followed? I don’t believe that this was reason enough to dismiss the coach. In South Africa, we cannot be judging our national team coaches on the results of friendly matches. Some people on social networks also claim that if one draws against Ethiopia, one then deserves to be fired. So are we now going to be judging coaches on a game-by-game basis? No “Vision 2014”? No focus on the long-term goals? I recently watched the French national soccer team struggling to beat Iceland in a so-called “meaningless” friendly. The game ended 3-2 in favour of Les Bleus in a match in which they were expected to dominate from start to finish. The French supporters were already booing the players after 30 minutes of play! Now, let us for a moment imagine that the French football association then decided follow public opinion and fired the coach, Laurent Blanc, due to one (or a string of bad friendly match results). How would that help the team in the long run? What message does that send to the next man who will be in charge? What happens to all the “building” that preceded the coach’s dismissal?

There are examples of similar situations in world football. The Brazilian World Cup-winning team of 2002 struggled to even qualify for the 2002 World Cup in South Korea. Once they got there, they won the actual event with (the original) Ronaldo ending up as top goal scorer. In 2006, Germany went into the World Cup that they were hosting, low on confidence. The team had not been performing as required and tournament had been struggling to build up hype amongst the public, but, yet again, when it is absolutely necessary to perform, the Germans gave a good effort and lost to the eventual champions in the semifinals. My point here is that fans cannot judge coaches on a game-by-game basis. If Pitso Mosimane, for example, is the head coach when the qualifiers begin, allow him to coach until the end. One can only judge the coach based on the final outcome based on whether he qualified or not (this deliverable should be clearly stated in the contract agreement). As Pitso Mosimane correctly pointed out, Bafana Bafana still have 15 points to play for. Why did SAFA feel the need to make a knee-jerk reaction? Did public pressure influence this decision? South Africa will be hosting the African Cup of Nations next year, yet Bafana Bafana will now have to prepare for the tournament with a coach who will have been in charge for less than 7 months by the time the tournament arrives. Who will the public blame in 2013?

The second issue was Pitso’s reluctance to select older players. I prefer not to discuss this issue too much. The Carling Black Label Cup is available for those who think they can make the best selections. I prefer to let the coach do the selecting. I judge all coaches, and will judge the next Bafana coach based on results not on whether my favourite player is playing. The coach is entitled to choose whoever he thinks will help him achieve his goals. I feel that some of the national team supporters have been unfair on Pitso Mosimane. I say this because it was the very same fans were calling Benni McCarthy “too fat” when he signed for Pirates and described former Pirates man Siyabonga Nomvethe as a “has been”. This also shows how fickle South African soccer fans can be – today you’re a legend, tomorrow you’re clueless.

The final issue, Pitso’s terrible handling of the media, attracted unnecessary negative attention from fans and, ultimately, led to his downfall. He put unnecessary pressure on himself by declaring himself “one of the best coaches in Africa” and such a display of confidence or arrogance requires great results if one wants to keep the Bafana Bafana coaching job.

Pitso reminds me of former Springbok coach Peter de Villiers. When given the microphone, these two gentlemen always provide good value for money as far as entertainment goes. Pitso, though, has the added problem of making too many excuses and resorting to blaming individual players for bad results – Siyabonga Nomvethe being the most recent example. The most recent post-match interviews was, as Neal Collins would say, “a Phokeng disappointment”.

So, Pitso Mosimane is gone and Steve Khompela will become the caretaker coach (we do love those two words in SA soccer don’t we?!) and journey to AFCON 2013 and Brazil 2014 (hopefully) is going to be bumpy ride. The development structures that Pitso kept mentioning may eventually be successfully built up in the country but unless our fans and soccer bosses change their mindsets as far as focusing on the deliverables and long term goals, Bafana Bafana will keep changing coaches and the result our nation deserves will forever be a distant dream.

Tom Moneypower

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Please support and follow @MillionMenSA (million men against rape).   It is time to take a stand.

This weekend’s events will have been analyzed and dissected in a million different ways b various websites and journalists. So, this week, I will give you guys a short blog post. I want you all to think about the 7 questions that I have decided to put out there, a lot of the addressing the power that money brings in football. Some questions will remind you how “expensive” some decison can be, as they sometimes end up costing certain people their jobs. Discuss and debate these issues in the coments section, or amongst your colleagues at work or, of course, on twitter.

• So, what have we learnt from the English Premier League kids? You spend a lot of money, you will win a lot of trophies. Manchester City are now Premier League champions. Chelsea FC are now UEFA Champions League winners. Is this only the beginning of the sugerdaddy era in top-level football?

• ·Chelsea fired former coach, Ander Villas-Boas, in March 2012 during his first season in charge. Roberto Di Matteo, AVB’s assistant at the time, takes over and goes on to lead Chelsea to an FA Cup and UEFA Champions league double (along with automatic qualification for next year’s UEFA Champions League). Orlando Pirates, suspend and then fire coach Julio Leal midway through the season due to most probably their bad performance in the CAF Champions League. Augusto Palacious, takes over and goes on to win the Premier Soccer League title, thereby ensuring that Pirates win the domestic treble for the second consecutive year. Is stability overrated? Can we assume that firing the coach in the middle of the season isn’t always a bad idea? Should we ask the Family Business FC (Kaizer Chiefs) for their advice?

• Most of us watched the UEFA Champions League Final. Most of us were almost about take a trip to dreamland due to pure boredom (no thanks to Chelsea). Was that Chelsea performance a great display of defensive football, or was that a display of anti-football? Is there such a thing as anti-football?

• Alessandro Del Piero is 37 years old. One of my all-time favourite midfielders, Paul Scholes is 37 years old and is still pulling the strings at the most successful club in English football. Didier Drogba – a beast of a striker -is 34 years old. Big-Benni McCarthy is also only 34 years old. Siyabonga “Bhele” Nomvethe is 34 years old. So, at what age is a player “too old”? Pitso, I am looking at you, sir.

• And, finally. ONE BILLION RANDS. One billion Rands to be spent on only TWO soccer clubs in South Africa. Really, Vodacom? Really?

That will be all.

Tom Moneypower

At this very moment – for most of you reading this piece – it is a Monday morning and you’ve just about made sense of the crazy events that occurred yesterday in the Barclays English Premier League (EPL). Goals, goalkeeping errors, flying elbows, coaching masterstrokes, and loads of drama. What more can you ask for? What a finish from the man they call Kun, and what an end to the season.

You could not have scripted this better. The commentators repeated this statement often. Every time they said that, the harder it became to believe what was happening on my small TV set. One does not need high definition large screens to experience the breath-taking drama which one was exposed to last night. Most soccer fans and “experts” predicted victories for both Manchester United and Manchester City in their respective games but anybody who predicted that finish before kickoff would have been labeled “insane” or “ambitious” at best. But, what we got from the EPL last night not only reminded us all why we love the league so much, it also reminded us why we love the game of football so much.

A few heart attacks, strokes, tears, screams of jubilation and frustration, and maybe some broken chairs in few people’s homes – all of this within the space of a mere 90 minutes. The cricket and rugby executives must be wondering how and when (if ever) they will match the drama and viewership that only football can generate. Even the shortened cricket version of T20 – great innovation, it must be said – has not managed to come close to matching the drama and various scenarios that can occur within less than 2 hours in football.

Anyway, today is City’s day and I have to congratulate the whole City team for their attitude, for never giving up (even when there was an eight-point deficit), and for the beautiful football they dished out (the Old Trafford special being my favourite pick as Arsenal fan!) and their self-belief and never-say die attitude in that memorable final league match of the season.   Even Roberto Mancini, the City head coach, admitted after the game that he himself had lost belief that they could snatch victory. In the age that we live in, where managers are fired within the blink of an eye, one has to give credit to the suits at the Etihad Stadium who did no pull the trigger as soon as the ship hit stormy waters. They let the captain of the ship handle his business. He did what needed to be done. He “recasted the outcasts” (Tevez and Balotelli), dealt with various egos within the team, and for us neutrals, he unleashed great attacking brilliance from the likes of Sergio “Kun” Aguero, Edin Dzeko, Mario Balotelli, Carlos Tevez, Adam Johnson, David Silva and former Arsenal darling, Samir Nasri on poor Premier League defences. It has been a great season and when the going got tough, the mind games got going. Since City can now be called Champions, can we agree that his there was a certain science behind his sometimes mad quotes and mind games?  Well, that might be a topic for another day.

Jose Mourinho gets a lot of respect, deservedly, for winning trophies wherever he goes, however, Mancini also deserves credit for taking this team to the top despite the various personalities he had to deal with. Let us not forget that he won three Serie A titles on the trot, thereby laying the foundation for Mourinho’s success later on at Inter Milan.

It must have made the victory even sweeter for City fans when you look at how the scene unfolded on this Sunday evening. Manchester United players and supporters alike thought they had the title wrapped up before Kun stole it back dramatically in injury time. Manchester City may be referred to as the noisy neighbours but go to most countries and you will realize how loud and arrogant Manchester United supporters are (and you will find any of them, trust me). City fans have every right to brag and be in your ear all week long. They suffered 44 years of banter and teasing from their neighbours.

I cannot wait for next season. Let’s hope the PSL, this coming weekend, can also provide more drama. And, guess what? After the PSL finale, we still have Euro 2012 in Polkraine to look forward to next month! It sure is great to be football fun, huh?

That’s all from me. ‘Til next time.

To read my other blogs and opinions on current football issues, please click the “Balz And All” link.

Tom Moneypower

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Twenty goals… Twenty goals from a thirty-four year old player. Hats off to Siyabonga Eugene Nomvethe.  These are the kind of figures we expect from the Premier Soccer League’s leading goalscorer.

In South African football we have many problems. Today I will discuss two, namely: perceiving all players above the age of 30 as “deadwood”, and secondly, a shortage of goalscoring talent.

“Bhele” – as he is affectionaely known in SA soccer circles – has performed very well for Moroka Swallows.  I am not going to attack you with Rafa Benitez-style “facts” about how many members of the over-thirty club (OTC) are not only alive and kicking, but actually shining on the PSL stage.   However, I do feel it is important to point out that in South Africa there is a perception that once you are over the age of thirty, you are finished as a player. No more talent. Your experience is useless. And, you are just collecting a cheque every month. It may be true that some players prolong their careers simply to keep food on the table. It may also be true that experience is not very useful if your legs can only carry you so far. And, it may be true that because of some the post-victory off-the field activities of players in the PSL, they tend to almost mirror a Brazilian player’s career path, peaking in their early twenties and then being below standard by the time they hit thirty. John “Shoes” Moshoeu showed us in South Africa what discipline on and off the field can do in terms of not only prolonging one’s playing career but also allowing one to perform at a level near their best for a longer period than other professional are usually able to. Bhele is another example to young players out there of what can be achieved if you take care of yourself outside of the soccer field. Players forget that their main asset is their body, preferring rather to indulge in normal activities we nine-to-fivers enjoy such as drinking and partying after games and eating our more than fair share of take-aways and calories – let’s forget about BBM (Big Benni McCarthy) for a moment, please, he is, afterall, still performing better than the current generation of strikers despite all those extra burgers kilos. Anyway, back to Nomvethe, he has become the first player since Collins Mbesuma to reach the 20-goal mark in one league season. Twenty goals for a Golden Boot winner should be the norm, however, this is the dire situation we face in South Africa. Swallows should not be ashamed of using a golden-oldie like Bhele instead of youth. I believe that if you are good enough, you are young enough. One’s career is not over after 30. It’s time for experience to be showcased. If Nomvethe and Moshoeu’s performances and achievements at their age do not change South Africans’ perceptions that a certain age constitutes a player being labeled “deadwood” (Pitso, I’m looking at you too), then PSL clubs and Bafana Bafana alike will be wasting valuable SA talent which can only help in terms of developing the current and future generations.

My second issue – a shortage of goal-scoring talent in the country has received ton of attention from the media and national squad coach, Pitso Mosimane.   Many “experts” have told us their opinions, explanations, and theories of how to fix this particular problem. Academies have been built nationwide, coaching clinics have been run, local coaches have been given opportunities to attend courses and learn from the world’s best coaching instructors, and the list of “solutions” goes on and on. Nothing seems to have helped solve the problem. The national squad’s top striker at the moment is a player who failed to even cement a regular place in the France-based club. The best striker in the national under-23 team, Bongani Ndulula, is currently warming the expensively-assembled bench at Orlando Pirates. Lerato Chabangu and Mabhuti Khenyeza who were once touted as “the next big thing” in South African soccer have allowed off-the-field problems to negatively affect their careers. Their stars no longer shine brightly in the PSL.  According to the football365 stats page (before this weekend’s games), the next highest league goal scorer is Eleazar Rodgers from Santos FC, with 12 league strikes. David Mathebula – a midfielder – is on eleven goals. The top goal scorer in the previous 4 seasons has only managed to score 14 goals (in the 2007/08 season), 19 goals (in the 2008/09 season), 17 goals (in the 2009/10 season), and 15 goals in the previous season. None of the winners of the PSL Golden Boot have gone on to dominate in any European league, Musona is the most recent example. What else can be done? I honestly don’t know,

Enough of the negatives! We have an exciting finish to the PSL season coming up next weekend. I am supporting the underdogs, Moroka Swallows. One can only imagine how a league title triumph could help the club in terms of marketing the brand to the younger generation as well. A league victory could reignite the original Soweto derby between Pirats and Swallows back to high level of intensity almost like what has happened to the Manchester derby in recent times, where both teams are equally competitive. However, I doubt Orlando Pirates will “choke” this weekend.

‘Til next time.

Tom Moneypower

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Following the fourth consecutive loss that the Kaizer Chiefs Family Business (KCFB) have suffered, many of the Khosi faithful must be thinking this is a dream – a bad, bad dream. 4 losses in a row… Never before in Chiefs’ rich history has the club lost 4 matches in a row. This bad run of results is hard to digest even for the neutral. This is unfamiliar terriroty for The great Phefeni Glamour Boys, also known as Amakhosi amahle, also known as the Gold and Black, also known as the Cup Kings of South Africa, also known as the Miiiighty Zebraaaas (I kid, I kid!). Unfortunately, for the Khosi faithful, this is not a dream. And if you read my previous blog, you know who I think is responsible for this sad situation. When I officially left the “family”, Chiefs was not dishing up consistent performances but I am pretty sure nobody expect this poor run of results to follow (maybe I was the lucky charm, eh? Okay, probably not. Sanity prevails).

As the club’s football manager, I think it is safe to assume that Bobby Motaung had a hand in the not-so-smart idea of firing a coach when the team was due to play a Nedbank cup quarterfinal match within 48 hours. That was not the right time for change. After the application of such brain-dead management techniques, I feel the family business football club deserves the results that have come its way. I recently tweeted that: “if the boardroom isn’t organized neither will the ppl on the field of play be.” The results speak for themselves. Sadly, Doctor Khumalo and Donald Khuse will be the ones showered with insults and anger (and water bottles and rubbish judging by the events a FNB Stadium on Saturday night).

Having grown up watching Doctor “16V” Khumalo dazzling fans and opponents alike with his silky skills on the ball, I – like many other South African football fans – was glad to see that he would be sharing his knowledge and experience with the current generation of footballers through his role as a coach. I don’t have too many memories of Donald “Ace” Khuse in his prime, however, but it is clear that he was a delight to watch in the center of midfield in his heyday. “DK and DK” have already had a stint at coaching Chiefs, a brief one at that (holding the fort while Operation That Zonke as crumbling under Mushin Ertrugal), and this occurred at a stage where they were still very raw and still regarded as coaching novices. Now, they have been handed a huge privilege of coaching Kaizer Chiefs, again. This was an opportunity which they found too hard to resist – understandably, some might say. However, this was an opportunity they should have refused to take. Having to handle a team with deep issues, a team that contains players running low on confidence, with six crucial league games to go, and the Nedbank Cup quarterfinal to deal with within 48 hours is what most people would describe as a poisoned chalice.  

DK and DK had far more to lose than there was to be gained. Firstly, DK and DK were never going to be appointed on a permanent basis – Kaizer Motaung has consistently stated that a local coach cannot handle being the Head Coach at the club (that makes no sense if you don’t mind hiring a local caretaker coach, though.) Secondly, a clear mandate was never stated by the suits at Naturena. The line “to prepare for the new season in good time” is pretty much all that Bobby Motaung communicated to the public in terms of what would expected from management of the young coaches, DK and DK. Thirdly, the quality as far as players goes, is not too great. In my opinion, a third-place finish was realistically the best position that Chiefs fans should have expected at the beginning of the season, due to the lack of investment by you-know-who. Demanding the league title with such lack of investment can only be described as being overly ambitious. Lastly , another disadvantage of taking over a team so late in the season is that DK and DK have no time to implement their own philosophy and system of play, neither can they add or sell players at this stage of the season (for obvious reasons). There is no time for experimenting and finding the right mix of players for the style of play which the coaches prefer. Some claim that at least Kaizer Motaung is giving local coaches a “chance”. On Twitter (13 April) I asked a fan what would happen if they (DK and DK) lose all 6 (league) games, would DK and DK still get another “chance” in the future? Excuse the spelling, but I also tweeted that, “u cnt giv a chanc wit 6 games left. Dats not fair to ace,doc or de team eg wat do we dtermin as failure (bobby also cudnt ansa).” The only way DK and DK could emerge from this situation with their reputations intact would be to pull a De Matteo and surprise the SA soccer fraternity and win the Nedbank cup and maybe finish 3^rd or 2^nd in league after a close finish. Bear in mind that all of that would all be for nothing due to the fact that a foreign coach is likely to take over the job for the 2012/13 season. So, the two DKs were a taking a major risk – early in the young coaching careers – for very little reward. They now have the undesirable record of being the coaches who were in charge when the (not-so-great ) Amakhosi suffered four consecutive losses for the first time in the club’s history. With PSL fans being so fickle, some are already wishing Vladimir Vermezovic back (for the record, I believe Vermezovic did a decent job with the resources he had despite his weakness at handling various personalities within the Chiefs camp. He should not have been dismissed). I must state, however, that I do not have as much sympathy for Doctor Khumalo as I do for Donald Khuse due to the scathing comments Doc wrote in his weekly column for the SoccerLaduma newspaper following the Soweto Derby loss (talk about kicking a man/coach when he’s down!) At the moment, Doc will know exactly what “VV” was going through, and one can tell through the interviews that Doc gives that the pressure is starting to take a toll. The strange decision to play Wilson Katsande at right back instead of his usual defensive midfield position was puzzling to say the least. Are we running out of ideas already, Doc? In the post-match interview, following the game between Chiefs and Supersport United, he was (disturbingly) beginning to show Vermezovic tendencies and blaming the players for the loss (even though he tried putting a positive spin on it near the end). That is the effect of pressure. Neither would it have helped his stress levels when the “Love and Peace” fans became violent (how’s that for irony, eh?) and were seen throwing all sorts of objects at the Chiefs players and the technical staff as they headed into the tunnel at Soccer City. Nelson Mandela is regarded as a brave man for his long walk to freedom, but even he must have quivered at the sight of Doc’s long walk to safety! Poor guy. It is never nice to see that happen, it is worse when it happens to a legend like Doctor Khumalo, however, this is the PSL, and that is how the fans make their voices heard (as if only 4,237 fans showing up wasn’t voicing their dissatisfaction enough).

Stability is underrated in the SA game. VV might not have been everybody’s cup of tea but he had a system of play that was understood by the players (maybe not wholly accepted by those who prefer some African Flair, no names mentioned), and everybody knew their role. It was silly of the Chiefs management part ways with VV at this crucial stage of the season with 6 league games left to play in close title race sprint. Ruud Krol was given the full three years of his contract to lead Pirates to silverware. Such patience and professionalism from the Pirates management reaped rich rewards. DK and DK, however, have been thrown into the lion’s den and will be made to shoulder the blame when the problem actually lies in the boardroom.

My advice to DK and DK would be for them to try their luck and coach a “smaller” team in the PSL (like Clinton Larsen for example), and gain the necessary experience in a less-pressurized environment. They should learn the ropes and earn the privilege of coaching Chiefs or any of the other successful clubs in South Africa. They have the qualifications, but now is the time to gain the experience and respect. For these relatively young coaches, it is indeed, time for change.

At the moment, this is a depressing situation for the millions of Chiefs fans in the country. DK and DK can still end this “adventure” of sorts with a few positive results, starting with the huge midweek match against Pretoria rivals, Mamelodi Sundowns. A victory in this encounter could ease tensions within the club and amongst the supporters.  However, management must wake up and smell the proverbial coffee. That only 4,000 fans decided to pitch up at the 90,000-capacity stadium to watch the team is not only a tad embarrassing, but extremely worrying (I touched on this issue in my previous blog). From the 4,000 who pitched up, many still felt the need to show their displeasure in such a violent manner. That display of frustration and anger should also start ringing alarm bells at the club. Bobby? Kaizer? Are you there? Stop the rot while it’s still early. The situation cannot be fixed only by moving certain players on, certain big “players” in the boardroom will also have to moved on. Tough decision need to be made for the sake of the club and for all the hard work that has been invested to make Kaizer Chiefs the most popular team in Southern Africa.

Kaizer Chiefs in the PSL is like the African National Congress (ANC) in South African politics (I have your attention now don’t I?) Most people who are not happy with the ANC’s performance, would rather not vote at all in elections than vote for another party. A similar rule applies in South African football. Those who support and watch Chiefs (mostly during the good times, it must be said), are unlikely to switch allegiance to another team no matter how bad performance on and off the pitch is. These fans would rather not watch any local football at all. For example, Supersport United won three league titles in a row, but, their support base is still embarrassingly low despite that successful period under Gavin Hunt. Therefore, for interest in PSL football to be kept alive, the PSL actually does need a relatively successful “big two” of Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates to keep the (largely) fickle fan base interested in the local game. Let us not forget that these major sponsorships and TV deals currently fueling the SA game only come about because of the massive viewership numbers. If not for the fans, do it for the money, Kaizer. The ball is in your court… It is time for change.

Tom Monyepower (and please read my “PSL TWars – Bird warfare blog about my funny encounter with the official Moroka Swallows twitter account)

Follow me on twitter @TomMoneypower

Before you start reading (and maybe laughing), here is my little disclaimer of sorts: – I am responsible for what I say, not what you understand.

Lastly, I would like to give strong praise to the players and coaches of Free State Stars, Ajax Cape Town, Bidvest Wits, and Moroka Swallows for their efforts in playing what I feel is an attractive brand of soccer.  If only PSL fans could start supporting these teams in numbers.