kaizerchiefs.com spoke to the Football Manager Bobby Motaung looking at the 2013/14 PSL season as gone by and taking a dipstick into the plans ahead of the upcoming 2014/15 season. Kaizer Chiefs finished the season empty handed in terms of silverware, but as the Football Manager puts it, it was a year characterised by challenges and lessons that will help the Club to mount a serious challenge for honours next season.

The Amakhosi finished second on the league, reached the semifinals of all Cup competitions and the 2nd Round of the CAF Champions League.

The overview:

“2013/14 was a very challenging season. We knew when we started the season that it was going to be a mountain to climb because of the success of the past season. It was more of a balancing act that we had to apply.

We faced several challenges going into this season. Firstly, there was a matter of the player acquisitions or sustaining the squad we had. To keep the harmony of the Team that was part of the success the past season and recognising and give credit to the players who were part of success of the 2012/13 season.

We also knew that we were going to play in CAF Champions League which was another challenge. The biggest challenge that the Technical Team had was to bring more players in the Team it would have impacted negatively in the harmony of the Team. To bring more players of quality that was playing regularly at their Teams would have posed the challenge as that would have meant we are only planning for only CAF. We reviewed and agreed with the Technical Team to proceed with the same squad that we had and see if we were going to be able to face the challenges of the season.

I want to commend the Team in its entirety for the attitude, the approach and meeting the challenges of the season. Although we didn’t achieve what we wanted to achieve in this season, it helped us to review and see what needs to be done differently going to the new season. Every season comes with different challenges and we are now in a better position to review the challenges we faced. Football is a journey and not a once off,” said Motaung.

The Team:

“We strengthened the Team with Maluleka and Mphela after bringing in Knowledge Musona. We were looking for quality and experience. We faced a challenge when Majoro left in the middle of the season. We had to bring Mphela on board in the middle of the season which was not part of the plan in the beginning. Kaizer Jnr retired in the middle of the season and Dladla was suspended, and those were players that formed part of the squad. We also loaned Sthembiso Ngcobo to gain game time at AmaZulu FC and subsequently we transferred him to Bidvest Wits halfway into the season.

We survived with the squad we had and we were able to challenge for the honours. Unfortunately it was not meant to be this season. We are now reviewing the systems; we will review the Technical Staff and review the players. Most importantly we commend the Team for the application under the circumstances. Playing in demanding and challenging conditions and still managed to apply and adapt on both domestic and continental fixtures. We commend the Team for keeping up to standard,”

CAF factor:

“Looking at CAF, the travelling and conditions that we played under, especially playing in the DRC was the most torrid period of all the challenges we faced this season. This is the season of a kind if you check it, we played in the DRC against AS Vita Club at Tata Raphael Stadium, in Kinshasa where two weeks ago people died when TP Mazembe played AS Vita Club, who knows what would have happened should we have won. On the playing part we dominated AS Vita Club under a hostile environment and unbearable heat conditions, we missed clear chances and they score what you can term ‘magical’ goal. Luck was not on our side, if you look how we continued to dominate them in the second leg at FNB Stadium, we were a different class from AS Vita Club. Luck was not on our side,” said Motaung.

“Similarly, we played well against Bidvest Wits and lost out on a penalty shootout which is not usual, which showed it was not meant to be our season. The Champions did well to win the league, but we missed out with only two points after going through a tough season with so many challenges. Our Team was tested this season for character and believe,” continued Motaung.

The review:

“The review process is on. We will use the experience of this season to build up for the next season. The review will include player movements, both in and out. Some of the players have to move to allow them to gain game time elsewhere. The exit of some players will allow the other players to come in. The movement of players will be based on mutual benefit for both the Club and the players. We are also looking at promoting some of the youngsters from our Development as part of the bigger plan that we have for the Club.

We have an arrangement with the North West University to develop our players holistically. The work is ongoing; we are integrating education into the system of developing the youth. We are looking at implementing the systems that will benefit the Academy. We are also looking at improving all the structures of the Academy, scouting networks and talent identification structures. We are hoping to see the implementation part of the plans we have with the University before the end of 2014. The broader plan of the relationship is to develop young football players in totality and therefore do not only include playing skills. The NWU will provide consultancy and advice on a wide variety of topics. These include finance, nutrition, psychological preparation for high performance sport and physical conditioning. The footballers will be developed in academic and professional fields in order to prepare them for life after their professional football careers,” said Motaung.

New developments:

We made changes in our new youth setup; we brought in the Swedish, Bo Augustsson as the Technical Director. It was a challenge to bring Bo into the setup as a new person, with language barrier and as part of the review we will look at all those issues. The Chairman is taking vested interest in the development of the Academy, the passion, the experience and the leadership of the Chairman is coming handy in this process. It is going to be key to have a dedicated Team of people around the Chairman to take this long term strategy forward,” said Motaung.

“I also want to mention the progress made is the development of the Village. The Youth will be moving to their new facility here at the Village and that will improve the working relationship between the Coaches. It will be easier for the monitoring and assessment of the youth, the engagement with the youth Coaches will be streamlined. We will still have access to the Nike Centre in Pimville for games and other use. With the youngsters that we are looking at promoting this season will bring a total number to six of the players that we have promoted since we started with this process two years ago with Stuart at the helm. This shows that there is work done for the benefit of the Club.

I would like to commend the Chairman and his Team for the construction of the new gym (High Performance Centre) at the Village. It will enhance the performance and the Technical aspects of the Team,” said Motaung.

The player movements:

“We are looking at promoting three more players from the Academy. We are looking at beefing up the Team in three of the positions with quality players. We have names in mind and some have been bandied around but we will not fall in the trap like in the past by revealing the names of the players we are targeting before agreeing terms with any of them,” revealed Motaung.

“In the next while we will engage with all the players who we have earmarked for moves. On the Musona issue, we are engaging with the relevant people. I will be travelling to Germany soon to deal with the matter. We are not dealing with hearsays; we are dealing with player movements with utmost professionalism. Musona issue will also be subject to the current agreement we have with his Team.

It is normal in football to have the speculations during this time of the season. As far as we are concerned Musona is happy at Chiefs and we will work together with him and his German Club Hoffenheim to determine his future. If the Media has anything regarding Musona that we don’t know, there is little we can do about that, we can only work with facts on the table. If there are teams that will be looking for our players, we will look at offers and apply the same principles that we have applied before in terms of open door policy. The offers must be realistic and the players must have the opportunity to grow in their careers. All engagements on issues of player movements will follow the necessary protocols,” said Motaung.

Motaung indicated that the Management have met with the Coach and the Coach is in line with the process as unfolding. “I want to put it on record that we have been working closely and as a collective with the coach since we started working with Stuart (Baxter),” concluded Motaung who thanked the Amakhosi Family in its entirety for the support and the unity that prevailed during the course on the 2013/14 season.