MAHLATSE MPHAHLELE: Itumeleng Khune deserves better from Chiefs than two signed jerseys

The desperate depths the once-mighty Kaizer Chiefs have sunk to were laid bare in front of a near-empty FNB Stadium on Saturday, with a scant “honour” of club legend and goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune.

On the auspicious occasion where when the club was honouring and thanking Khune for the monumental achievement of 25 years of unbroken service, included in which was much success and many trophies, a disappointing crowd turned out to witness the moment.

When the match started, the crowd was poor but it improved slightly later, and you cannot blame the fans for not pitching up — the club has simply become a shadow of its former self.

Khune's moment to be honoured — which, to some extent, seemed a deflection effort by Amakhosi from their poor end to a dismal ninth campaign without silverware, where they are battling to preserve eighth place — might have drawn in more spectators had Chiefs not publicised it so poorly. The club made a low-key announcement of the event on Thursday, with no other build-up or publicity.

It was a sorry sight to see Khune, arguably the best goalkeeper of his generation, waving to a small but excited crowd before and after the match.

The occasion was also stained by their uninspiring performance, drawing 0-0 against Polokwane City, a result that left Chiefs in serious danger of missing out on the MTN8 next season.

Amakhosi have disintegrated into an also-ran, middle-of-the-table team who have won only nine of their 29 league matches this season, and they go to the final day of the campaign having to win to avoid missing the top half for the second time in 17 seasons, the last being in 2018-19.

Chiefs have been in a sorry state for a decade and even the celebration of a legend was never going to be enough to lure supporters, who have developed an apathetic attitude towards the club.

This happened while thousands of kilometres away, Mamelodi Sundowns were setting the new record of the most points (72) achieved in the 16-team Premiership era, with their 22nd win of the season over Stellenbosch, beating their record set in 2015-16.

The Brazilians, who won the league with six matches to spare, are on course to go the entire league season without a defeat if they win their remaining matches against TS Galaxy and Cape Town City.

The future of Khune, whose contract comes to an end in June, hangs in the balance as both the player and the club have not clarified whether he will be staying on or leaving Naturena. Last year, Chiefs announced this would be his last playing contract before venturing into coaching and an ambassadorial role to continue his long and deep-rooted ties with the club, which stretches back to their development. But Khune later contradicted that, insisting that he still wanted to play.

The relationship between Khune and the club has been tumultuous recently and he was suspended in December for disciplinary issues, with the 36-year-old rejoining the team in March. Since he returned from suspension, Khune was on the bench against AmaZulu last week and was introduced for Bruce Bvuma for the remaining 15 minutes against Polokwane, to mark the occasion in his honour for his fifth league appearance of the season.

If he continues his relationship with the club, fans deserves to know in what capacity to avoid unnecessary speculation during an off-season where Chiefs have hard decisions to make. In the 2024-25 preseason, the leadership at Chiefs needs to focus on the mission of finding a coach and movement of players, and not questions about the future of a legend, which may not be decided by then.

Among successes Khune achieved at Chiefs are three league titles (2004-2005, 2012-2013 and 2014-2015) and four domestic cups before the drought hit Naturena.