A few years ago, a friend of mine was leaving the company that I work for. His farewell e-mail to everyone in the company was “What a play. What a cast.”

I feel the need to echo those sentiments by paraphrasing; “What a season! What a team!” We’ve all experienced an emotional rollercoaster in the last 9 months.

I believe it was after the Manning Rangers drawn game (2-2) back in January that Master Ted Dumitru, on being asked about Chiefs’s chances of ever catching up with then runaway log leaders Pirates, made the now famous quip; “The log as it stands is only reflecting the current situation and not the final situation.”

That quote, for me, became the rallying cry for the season as a small of minority of fans joined me in what we named Mission Impossible. Essentially we logged on to the CB to lift each other’s spirits, particularly after those 11 games that we drew. Even on the busiest days at work, I would log on to the Chatboard and post the signature cry of Mission Impossible, “Can you hear the thunder?! Mission Impossible is arriving!”

This is not the time for “I told you”’s however appealing the idea might be. It’s time for all the Beautiful Peace-Loving People to celebrate together. After all how often, in the last 15 years have we been able to call ourselves The Champs – especially twice in a row? How often did we experience exactly the same feeling that Pirates must be experiencing, of running away with the league only to lose it at the dearth? Who will forget that ‘97/’98 season where we failed to win it even though we just needed one point from 3 games? Or the ‘98/’99 season when we lost it on goal difference to Downs?

I’ve said it a hundred times before – Kaizer Chiefs were the superior team this season. Tactically and in other ways. Our movement off the ball was marvellous and we created oodles of chances game in, game out. In fact you’ll be hard-pressed to remember a game where we were outplayed by anyone. Our downfall was in our inability to convert those chances. I daresay that of our 11 losses, at least 8-9 should have been clear victories. That would have effectively ended the season in April for our competitors. The first of our only two losses came at the hands of our nemesis, Pirates despite the fact that we were all over them like a cheap suit. Their goals came against the run of play and were the result of errors in our defence.

Hats off to the management, the technical team, the players and the supporters for keeping the faith during those dark hours. However, I feel I will be reneging on my duties as a supporter if I didn’t say this. A disturbing trend is starting to emerge within the ranks of the supporters. Our ability to accept bad patches during the season as part of the game is now often found in scarcity with regularity. The abuse that we hurl towards the technical team (especially the coach) is starting to happen more and more against the spirit of Love and Peace.

Sure, we all have a lot invested in the team both materially and emotionally. After all, those jerseys do not really come too cheap! As supporters we have every right … no, make that our duty to speak out when we believe certain things need sorting out. However, it is not so much in the ‘what’ but also the ‘how’ that we let ourselves down. The abuse that the coach had to endure this season is something that we should be hanging our heads in shame about. But enough of that, this is the time for celebration. Let the party begin! Let’s celebrate “like it’s 1999!” in the words of Prince.

I’m not one to single out players out of a total squad, but it’s difficult not to congratulate certain players who stood out. The obvious first mention must be Collins Mbesuma. 25 goals in 30 games is nothing to sniff at. The Doubting Thomases were having a field day when it was (erroneously) reported that Mbesuma’s target for the season was massive 40 goals. The boy came pretty close, didn’t he? It’s worth noting that his strike rate of 83% is probably the best in all professional leagues in the world. My cursory research has not found a better rate. Considering that in recent years our Golden Boot winners have generally just scraped together goals in double digits, like 12 or 14 goals, it is an achievement of note. Player Of the Year must be a foregone conclusion.

Another special mention must go to ‘my coach’, Master Ted Dumitru who confounded the critics by steering the team to our second league title in as many seasons. Under very trying circumstances and under a lot of pressure, he kept his head where many lesser men would have withered. Let’s review; in 2 seasons has achieved what dozens of coaches had failed to do at Chiefs, winning the league twice, winning the Chiefs Cup (Coke Cup) twice and winning an assortment of minor pre-season trophies as well.

It is a pity that Ted has other (bigger) fish to fry at this moment. Let me go out on a limb here and call for Bra Chincha to make one last-ditch attempt at retaining the Master for at least one more season if he can be swayed. If he can work these miracles in only two seasons, imagine what a 3rd or even a 4th season could yield. If Ted is truly going, then Godspeed Master Ted. You will be missed at Naturena. But most of all thank you for bringing back the smiles to out annually forlorn faces. What a ride it’s been! You are the man!

In closing, I’d like to point that there is a positive trend starting to re-emerge at Chiefs; the belief that we are as good as our history dictates. We are beginning to come through when the chips are down. A few seasons ago, the end result would have been that Pirates would be champs today. Not anymore. 5 league trophies in a row seem like distinct possibility now. We certainly deserve nothing less.

Again, hats off to the management on a well-oiled machine, to the coach for his steadfast belief in his philosophies, for the players in their dogged determination not to end up as bridesmaids yet again and the supporters for playing their role when it mattered i.e. support this, the greatest football team in the history of this country.

In the words of Teddy Pendergrass, “I’m Glad To Be Alive”.

Khosi For Life!

Ndums