JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – SEPTEMBER 28: Ranga Chivaviro of Kaizer Chiefs celebrates with his teammates after scoring a goal during the Betway Premiership match between Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns at FNB Stadium on September 28, 2024 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Alche Greeff/Gallo Images)
What new Kaizer Chiefs head coach Nasreddine Nabi has got right at the club appears to be how to manage the dynamics of the squad, after former coach Cavin Johnson revealed what he believes is the biggest problem in South African football.
There are common observations of the current Chiefs team that their body language is different under the Tunisian mentor and that they seem to be more motivated than last season.
One of the big issues that came out last season in the Amakhosi camp, as reasons for the club not doing well, was reports, which alleged that there was division among the players, along racial lines.
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A report by Sunday World alleged that black players at the Soweto giants were complaining that coloured players were treated better by the management and there were therefore cliques that affected the camaraderie within the squad.
Johnson, who was at Chiefs for the better part of last season, has suggested that the biggest problem in South African football is that the power of diversity is neglected.
“The big thing along my way is that we as South African people of football have still not understood the diversity of this country, at youth and senior level. We still have not understood the diversity that South African football players come with,” Johnson said on Junior Khanye Khohlwa podcast.
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“[The late] Ted [Dumitru] was probably the master of understanding the diversity of a Xhosa boy, a Zulu boy, a coloured boy, a while boy, because he could always play one language against the other or one person [group] against another, using the diversity of how this country is built.
“As we grew older in democracy, we created a lot more rich black people but along that way they carried the white mentality. They did not understand the diversity, a black rich guy always wants to demand, ‘Hey, I’m the boss! I’m mlungu, I tell you, you must play this one! Don’t tell me!’ and that is why we don’t get the best [out of a squad of players],” Johnson added.
Before Nabi, the last coach to come to Chiefs without prior experience in South Africa, is Vladimir Verzemovic in 2009 and along with Stuart Baxter, had the longest stay at the club since Muhsin Ertugral and Dumitru in the early to mid 2000s [in their second spells at Amakhosi].
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