The scenes at the Johannesburg Stadium at the end of our game against Swallows on Sunday - were to say the least disturbing, hurtful and once again damaging to the reputation of the club and the thirty five years of hard work in spreading the gospel to our fans that we are a peace loving, soccer loving team. To those that are uninformed - I am speaking about supporters hurling abuse at the team after the game, which meant that, the coach and the team had to leave the stadium under a police escort.

As a team manager I can safely say that the players, the coach and the management are aware of the current performance of the team and we are looking at ways of improving this. Having said that - we all need to understand that a soccer team is a puzzle and the players, the coach, the grounds man, the club president, the vendors at the stadium and most importantly the supporters all form different pieces that make the product become one. We all work together to ensure that the team reaches one objective, which is victory and ultimately trophies, so as to become the number one team in the country.

If one piece of the puzzle falls out - the picture is not complete. At this stage I feel the piece that is falling out of the picture are the supporters. I am not sure if the supporters of Kaizer Chiefs understand how important they are to the eventual success of the team. If we go back towards the run into last season when we had many tough games towards the end. The matches against Wits University, Bush Bucks, Super Sport and the final game against Bloemfontein Celtic were won through the encouragement, passion and the over all support from our fans.

At a stage we might have given up hope on the title but our supporters helped us play to the last minute. In the Super Sport United Game supporters from all the other fifteen PSL teams came out to support United but our supporters rose above and at the end of the day it was you who helped lift the players and ultimately a combination of the two won us the league last season.

We as management understand that supporters have grievances and are upset with the way results are going at the moment, that is the way football goes. We need to stick with our team through thick and thin like the majority of our supporters have done over the years. The supporters’ responsibility is to create a positive environment in the stadium and not one of fear for the players. We do not want a situation where the players are fearful of the supporters and it affects their mindset and has further damaging consequences on the team.

Many of our opposition players have said that the aspect that scares them most about playing against Chiefs has been driving into the stadium and seeing the sea of gold and black entering the stadium. This has won us the game before kick off. What we need is to bring back the passion and ‘support our team at all costs attitude’. I just feel that, maybe not in other parts of the country, but certainly in Johannesburg our supporters are not rallying around us like they used to in the past. We understand the frustration you might be feeling but turning to violence and abuse will not help the situation. Your undying support will. On Sunday it was a wonderful sight to see so many supporters coming out in their numbers, filling up the Johannesburg stadium a venue that always brings out the best in us.

We do need to understand that players are human beings - they have feelings and our players thrive on the support they receive from you. When you, the supporter, single out individuals for criticism we are not helping the teams cause. For a player to come back into form after taking criticism from his own supporters does his morale no good, My case in point being when David Beckham returned from the FIFA World Cup France 98. He was taken apart by the press and rival supporters because he received a red card in one of the World Cup games. The support he received from his own supporters helped him lift his game and he helped Manchester United win the FA Cup, League and European Champions League in one season coming on the back of this criticism.

With regards to the coach and our coach in particular, it must be made clear that the coach is responsible for preparing the team to get to a certain level before a game. He does the necessary tactical and technical preparation as well as motivating the players and ensuring that they enter each game with the correct mindset. Unfortunately FIFA only allows eleven players to play - and as much as the coach would love to be on the field he is not the one with the opportunity to put the ball into the back of the net.

That duty still falls with players. We have a very professional and experienced coach in Ernst Middendorp - he is open to hear the supporter’s thoughts and feelings. He prepares extensively for every game and has not been afraid to give the different players the opportunity to play, so much as the players need you so does the coach. Together with the coach and the assistant coach we have identified certain grey areas that we need to work on and we will address them finding both short and long-term solutions to these problems.

For the meantime we need every one to work together .I will do my part - the players have ensured us that they will improve in certain areas and the coach is available and open to suggestions. You need to hold up your side by supporting us through rain or shine.

Till the weekend continue preaching love and Peace and I will bring you the goals.

Bobby Motaung


Kaizer Chiefs Team Manager