I’m not going into derby worried about my job, says Chiefs coach

Arthur Zwane doesn’t think a defeat in Saturday’s Premiership Soweto derby against Orlando Pirates at FNB Stadium will spell the end of his tenure as Kaizer Chiefs head coach.           

Zwane, who was appointed to the hot seat at the start of the 2022-2023 campaign, goes into the derby under pressure after calls for his head grew louder after the fifth-placed side’s 3-2 league defeat to Lamontville Golden Arrows in Polokwane last Sunday.

The Chiefs coach needed protection from security staff at Peter Mokaba Stadium as fans showed their displeasure and booed him.

Amakhosi are trailing runaway leaders Mamelodi Sundowns by 27 points after 20 matches and have only bagged four points in their past four matches. 

“I don’t know,” was Zwane’s initial response when asked if Saturday’s match (3.30pm) could decide his future at Chiefs. “As far as I know, I’m the head coach of Kaizer Chiefs.

“I’ve always been saying the club has a plan. And it [his job] doesn’t matter as much as we need three points and want to win every game. I’m not going into this match worried about my job or any other things. The focus is on playing this game and making sure the players apply themselves correctly.”

Chiefs have been inconsistent in 2023, suffering defeats against Sekhukhune United (1-0), AmaZulu (4-0) and Sundowns (1-0). They had one victory against Royal AM (2-0), drew against TS Galaxy (0-0) and lost against Arrows. 

But Zwane insisted on Thursday that he believes his team can turn things around in the last 10 league matches. 

“We're not happy with where we are,” the former Chiefs player admitted. “We could have done better by a long way, but as I have said, injuries and many other things have happened. But I’m happy with our progress.

“At the end of the day it’s what you want to achieve and the players know what it means to play for a team of Chiefs’ calibre. They know what is at stake — they play 30-plus cup finals because every team wants to beat us.

“Those same players also want to come to Kaizer Chiefs. The good thing is as much we’ve been struggling here and there, we still managed to grab valuable points and produced some great performances.

“In the game we lost against Arrows, we should have scored three goals in the first half because we played to our strength. We also tried to get the combinations right. What I’m happy about is that the guys have tried their best despite the lack of consistency.”

Chiefs face a Pirates side that will be desperate to beat them after losing the last four Soweto derbies in league matches. Third-placed Pirates go into Saturday’s match in better form as they have won four of their last five matches.