Chiefs must wake up: McGregor slams state of club

Shane McGregor is one of the few Kaizer Chiefs legends who will not mince his words when you want to know what’s wrong with the once-great Soweto giants and how to bring back the glory days.

McGregor was part of those halcyon days as he starred for the club between 1987-1994 as a prolific goal scorer (64 goals in 114 matches), forming a wonderful partnership in most of that time with Fani Madida.

In a candid interview, McGregor recommended a complete overhaul, starting right at the top — the club’s administration — for the team in gold to regain their former lustre.

Chiefs are about to go nine seasons without silverware, something unheard of in McGregor’s time when owner Kaizer Motaung’s outfit was assured of winning one or two trophies a season. Their previous longest time without a trophy was a season.

Ahead of Saturday’s Soweto derby against Orlando Pirates, another huge Soweto club that has played second fiddle to Mamelodi Sundowns for the better part of a decade, McGregor was asked who is likely to win.

“Going to this game, Pirates have got their heads up and are doing well. I know Chiefs have got the upper hand on Pirates over the last few years, but that can change very quickly. It’s a derby and anything can happen. It’s not good and it’s not good for Chiefs.

“Going to this game, Chiefs are in a bit of trouble, I must be very honest. I think they’re going to struggle against Pirates. But look, it’s a derby, we all know what happens in derbies. Sometimes it’s luck on the day. Anything can happen, but Chiefs have got to wake up, simple.”

Chiefs are in sixth place in the league going into the derby and Pirates fifth. Asked if he still got excited about the derby, McGregor said: “I can’t get excited, especially because of the way Chiefs are playing. They’ve fallen off the rails at the moment.”

McGregor is no longer the darling of the Chiefs hierarchy because of his no-holds-barred remarks in the media when asked about the club’s state. Asked about what’s wrong at Amakhosi, the legend said the writing had been on the wall for some time at Naturena.

“We all know what’s wrong. It’s basically whoever buys the players, the management who look after the players and who bring players in and who does all that type of thing. That’s what’s wrong.

“Those players you have got there are not Chiefs players, are not Chiefs quality. As much as everyone says they are, they are not. They’re not the quality that Chiefs should have. I mean, they’re going on a decade now with no trophies. And if you look at it, who do you blame? How many coaches [seven] have they had and why have they had so many? It’s not the coaches who buy the players, it’s the management. So that’s the problem.”

The family nature of Chiefs’ leadership structure has been highlighted as compromising its accountability. Does that mean the likes of sporting director Kaizer Motaung Jnr, football manager Bobby Motaung and marketing and commercial director Jessica Motaung must make way for strangers to run Kaizer senior’s club?

That’s what McGregor is suggesting, and he might be on the money if you consider that since Kaizer junior’s promotion in 2021, three coaches — Gavin Hunt, Arthur Zwane and Molefi Ntseki — have been fired for not delivering results. As a sporting director, if he was not a Motaung son, would Kaizer junior still have his job given that record?

“That [professionals rather than family running the club] would be the solution. I said at the beginning of the current season that [Ntseki] was not experienced enough. He had never coached any [Premiership] team.

“They [the club] attacked me for saying that, and they’ve cut me out altogether [from Chiefs social gatherings and social matches of former players]. They want nothing to do with me because they say, ‘How can I attack Chiefs?’ I wasn’t attacking Chiefs, I was just telling the truth. I put my version of what happened, and I said he [Ntseki] is not going to last.

“And what happened? The guy got fired. Did they say, ‘Oh no, sorry, you were right’? No chance. They just made it worse [by appointing Cavin Johnson as an interim coach]. But that’s what it is. They don’t like to be shown up or for anyone to criticise them, but it’s the truth.

“If the coach picked his players and he got players he wanted and he failed, then you fire that coach. [But at Chiefs] the coach is coming and gets the players [who are there] already, and he says, ‘Now what do I do? I don’t want these players.’ But all of a sudden he’s got this player and that player [signed without his input]. Obviously [a coach has] got to work with the people he wants, not people who are given to him. And that’s the big problem.

“That’s why I feel they haven’t brought in a strong coach. They haven’t brought in a Pitso Mosimane or someone like that because he will turn around and say, ‘I’m the coach and I want to pick my players’.”

Since their inception in 1970, when Chiefs were winning trophies, the strikers the club signed were renowned for scoring many goals per season. Midfielders were also major contributors for goals, but it was ace scorers such as McGregor who were expected to find the net regularly. Strikers who did not would be discarded and Chiefs would seek better players.

“They don’t have a striker,” McGregor said of the present squad. “When last did they have a striker who can score goals? Anyone can score penalties.

“They’re talking about [Ashley] Du Preez — he does so well for them. But how many times does Du Preez miss when he’s one on one with the goalkeeper? How many chances? If you go back and look at this season alone, you probably are looking at 10 chances. Is that a striker? No, he’s not.

“They sign players, but where do they sign them from? I mean, the guy they signed from Colombia, [Jasond] Gonzalez, come on. Is that what you're looking for? Then they’ve got [Christian] Saile? Saile for me is a good wide player, he’s not a striker. Even the midfielders they’ve got now, they're not scoring. That’s a big problem.”

McGregor misses when Motaung senior was hands-on and worked with coaches recruiting players.

“As far as I knew, it was the coach who would say, ‘I want this type of player.’ They would never bring in a player a coach did not want. That would happen in conjunction with Kaizer. He had a football brain and he knew his players and he obviously knew because he had also played at the highest level. He knew the kind of player who would suit the club.

“When you’re going to youngsters [Bobby and Kaizer junior] who are involved with the club at the moment, I’m not being disrespectful, [but] they don’t have that football brain. They don’t have that knowledge. That’s the big problem.

“If you look at the way [six-time successive Premiership and 2016 Caf Champions League winners] Mamelodi Sundowns are run, they have a technical director [Flemming Berg], they’ve got scouts all over the place looking at players. It’s not a one-man decision. You have the head coaches involved too, the head scout and technical director. Football people.

“They don’t have family. Yes, the club is being run by Motsepe’s son [Tlhopie], but he just does the running of the club; he’s got nothing to do with the buying of players. That’s why they’re successful.”

Chiefs’ defeat to first division Milford FC in the Nedbank Cup last 32 last month confirmed they will finish a ninth season with a trophy in 2023/24 and McGregor feels that is a shame for a club that, in resources and pedigree, could be the No 1 side on the continent.

“Yes, it’s almost 10 years without a trophy and they should be the biggest club in Africa. To be fair and honest, Sundowns are taking that over now. Sundowns are one of the biggest sides in Africa. Even the support — look at the support of Sundowns all of a sudden — wow! It’s because they’re successful, they’re winning games and they’re winning trophies. Chiefs aren’t doing that. And they’ve lost a lot of those supporters.”

McGregor was also critical of Chiefs’ long-term goals, saying they had to start all over every season because there was never a solid plan in place.

“They’ve got no long-term planning. They’ve been talking about long-term planning for how long now? They were talking about this [2024] as being the year they were going to win things and develop for next year. It’s gone again.

“Is Cavin Johnson going to be the coach next season? You see [he won’t] — now they’re going to be starting all over again. A new coach, new ideas and new everything. All you’re doing is delaying the process.

“That’s why I said when Cavin was being appointed, either he’s given the job full time or they find a coach in January. Find a coach who’s going to coach the club now so he’s got a few months to develop his systems before the start of next season.

“If that had happened that coach wouldn’t turn around and say, ‘Sorry, I need time.’ Now they've lost that opportunity. I don't know what they're going to do. Next season it will be a development again. Let’s see what’s going to happen and let’s give that coach time. But how long that’s going to be?”

For Chiefs, it was time for soul-searching and honesty, McGregor said. To succeed they had to stop obsessing about past glories and start focusing on building for the future.

“You’re only as good as your last game as far as I’m concerned. When I played it was always like that. But we’ll see what happens.

“The worst part is that I love the club, but I don’t like the way it’s being run now. It should be the biggest club in Africa, but it’s not. It’s sad, it’s very sad.”