First I must thank all the supporters who made it to the Telkom Charity Cup on Saturday. Your support on the day made a huge difference. However, it pains me when I read on our chatboard that some of you are saying they would be staying away in future after a defeat against Pirates.

It's true that everyone wants to support a winner and after the Vodacom Challenge, the expectations must have been very high. But we must also realise that in the game of football you win some and lose others. We must have that room for disappointment.

We played exciting football against Pirates but were very unlucky not to have scored a goal and without goals, as some of you stated on the chatboard, you do not win matches.

I do not want to single out certain departments, as I believe football is about team-work. But against Pirates, I felt our forwards did not come through for us. And I think our defence probably lost concentration when Pirates scored their goal.

We had things going right almost in all departments but we could not put the ball in the net.

Yes, we need strikers to replace some of the players we have lost during the off-season. And believe me, the management is working round the clock to sign two quality strikers. It takes time to formalise deals with good players because they also have a number of offers to look at.

We have not announced the names of the players we are going to sign for a simple reason. In the past Kaizer Chiefs lost great players to our rivals following announcements before the deals were sealed. We cannot afford to make the same mistake and I would like to appeal for your patience in this regard.

Our plans for the new seasons haven’t changed. We still want to challenge for major honours with the league championship being our main priority. Perhaps the defeat in the Charity Cup was a blessing in disguise as it made us realise our weaknesses too early.

We all agree that we should have won that match but we didn’t and we must learn from that and start planning for the future. Your support is very crucial in our plans because without your voice in the stands, it will be very difficult to motivate the players who are used to playing before huge crowds.

Without making any excuses for our loss, I looked at the replay of the disallowed goal and I still cannot understand why the referee disallowed it. Things like these affect our game but it is not for me to say.

Finally, some of you are asking why we didn’t field players like Shaun Permall and Richard Lishivha.

The situation with Shaun is very serious, as we have now discovered that he is carrying a groin and shoulder injury. He will atleast six months to recover from a groin injury while the shoulder will take around three months. A specialist will examine him on Tuesday and a final decision regarding operations will then be made.

Richard is a very talented youngster. Otherwise, we would have never bought him. We need to understand that he was playing in the lower division and he will need time to adjust to the big league. If we throw him in the deep end and he fails to impress you at once, that might also destroy him.

You might have realised that youngster Nhlanhla Kubeka is no longer playing at his usual position at the back. That is a tactical as well as a strategic move as the boy has so much talent. We needed someone to fill Mohammed Auseb's position and Nhlanhla fits the bill very well in closing down offensive opposition midfielders.

Generally, I very please with all our new signings and you can also bear testimony that they are quality material to help us in the league campaign.

Despite the defeat, the spirit is very high in the camp because the players know we can only grow from strength to strength, with your support, of course.

Love and Peace!

Muhsin Ertugral


Kaizer Chiefs coach