Thursday, Kaizer Chiefs management could have been handed the responsibility to make a decision on the future of head coach Molefi Ntseki, after he admitted that fan violence is affecting his job and players.
Amakhosi’s run without a major trophy will stretch to nine years after they were eliminated 1-0 by AmaZulu in the Carling Knockout round of 16 clash on Saturday.
The Glamour Boys supporters reacted angrily for the third time this season as they threw missiles on the pitch and the violence even cut short the post-match interviews done by SuperSport TV, as the broadcasters were also in danger and Ntseki could not appear.
Chiefs supporters have in the past forced coaches to be removed from their positions or to resign following a string of poor results, as former coach Steve Komphela resigned in 2018 following ugly scenes at Moses Mabhida Stadium, where Amakhosi were knocked out of the Nedbank Cup in the semi-finals by Free State Stars.
Ntseki says these fan violence incidents have made him treat every training session and every game as if it is his last because he doesn’t know what will happen next and added that the ugly scenes aimed at him are also affecting his players.
“I think it’s a difficult one if one has to explain the space I find myself because I always say when you prepare, you prepare to win but when you lose games like these you’re always worried what will happen at the end of the game,” Ntseki told journalists at FNB Stadium.
“And I don’t think it’s actually a good thing for football, because it has turned out to be more like every training session you have, it’s your last training session. Every game you play it’s your last game because you’re more worried about the results. Yes, you’re not getting results and you own up as a coach that the results are not coming but when things like these happen for the third time, it does not only affect you as a coach, but it’s also affecting your players,” he said.
The former Bafana Bafana coach went on and suggested that the fan violence towards him would make players think what if they are next if they don’t perform and revealed that he is ready to be fired if the results are not forthcoming.
“Because when they get to hear, you get to see what happens to their coach when they lose matches, it also becomes a reflection on them to say, ‘What if tomorrow I’m the next one when I did not have a good game?’ he asked.
“Who am I to stop incidents like this? It worries you more because you’re a family person. It’s football, you win some, you lose some. The day you get hired, the door is open for you to exit and that’s football for us. If you don’t get the results, you should be ready to get fired,” he added.
