Pirates pulled off one of the best-kept secrets as not even the best sniffer dogs could smell the traces of this move. It simply went untraced and was a mission accomplished for the Houghton-based club. What caused an uproar of some sort is not just that no one saw the appointment coming, it was the fact that there were local coaches who were readily available and had been eyed by the team's supporters, salivating at the prospect of seeing one of the three of the club's legends who are on the coaching market, in Pitso Mosimane, Dan Malesela and Benni McCarthy, taking over from Josef Zinnbauer, who vacated the hotseat at the beginning of the season, resulting in Mandla Ncikazi and Fadlu Davids holding the fort for the remainder of the season.
It has become fashionable for South African football supporters to call unknown coaches, especially from abroad, plumbers and it happens not only on social media but even in supporters' social gatherings as well, where football is the topic of discussion. This may be new to the Spanish mentor, but consider it as part of our football supporters' vocabulary, coach, and don't take it to heart. If anything, it is a challenge for you to prove to the passionate supporters that you're not a plumber but a good football coach who is here to change Pirates' fortunes, improve their players individually and collectively, while playing a role in elevating South African football. You do that, then not a single supporter will ever use such a derogatory word to describe or call you. Show them what you're all about, earn their trust and you'll even find yourself monikered "The Real Special One" in reference to your namesake Jose Mourinho.
The club's chairman, Dr Irvin Khoza, wasted no time in defending his coach, by hitting out at those who criticized the appointment of coach Riveiro, calling him a plumber. Affectionately known as the "Iron Duke", Khoza labelled the 'plumber' tag as insulting and demeaning.
Surely the social media reception the coach has received has given the 46-year-old a hint of what to expect. He surely must have done his due diligence and certainly knows what he's letting himself in for – after all, you don't jump into a river when you can't swim. Being Spaniard, one of the best footballing countries, isn't enough to appease our football supporters. After having a Brazilian in coach Joel Santana in charge of our national team and how his tenure turned out, our people know better than to trust too much. Now they know that not all that glitters is gold. What's going to be interesting is to see how you, coach Riveiro, react to the situation because, with all due respect, Pirates supporters know who they wanted to coach their team and it was definitely not you. After it became clear that the Ncikazi-Davids combination was not going to continue into the next season, a number of names, top local coaches at that, were bandied about as to who should be the next Bucs coach. Once again, since no one knew about you or the club's intention to bring you on board, your name didn't even feature in that list. The names of preferred coaches were made even more appealing by the fact that they were free agents, as Mosimane had just returned from Egypt after parting ways with Al Ahly, Malesela was free from being 'dumped' by Marumo Gallants, while McCarthy had spent enough time away from local football since his departure from AmaZulu FC. So, everything seemed to be in line and it couldn't have been a more opportune time to finally see one of these three legends taking charge.
The 'plumber' tag, coach, comes from a number of failed and overrated European coaches who came into the country, entrusted with the responsibility to lead some of the biggest teams in the country and left with nothing to show for it. The fact that your CV doesn't show much, with youth coaching, one head coaching job in the sixth division and then assistant coach gigs until your first head coaching job in the elite league in 2019 at FC Inter Turku in Finland until last year, will always be looked at with suspicion. What no one can dispute is the fact that you left an impression in Finnish football as detailed by Leroy Maluka, a local former footballer who is now based in Finland, in his interview with Soccer Laduma in edition 1280. He spoke highly of you and assured Bucs supporters that you play a good and attractive brand of football and that you don't fold under pressure.
To add salt to the wound, coach Pitso Mosimane recently issued a challenge to all the foreign coaches coming to our shores: Show us what you've won in your native country! That's not too much to ask! It is not criticism, nor arrogance in any way. In fact, in an ideal world, that's how it should be, as they say "charity begins at home". However, as it has been proven before, not everyone is going to go the same route and not everyone is going to go through the same experiences. There are several coaches who have come to this country having not done much in their own countries, only to impact the local game in a positive way. Some of them have played a significant role in nurturing our talents and even facilitating overseas moves for them. However, we can't run away from the fact that some of them have come here and left our football worse than they'd found it, which is where coach Pitso's sentiment is more applicable. At the end of the day, for you to come and try to win the league here, you must have done it before somewhere else. If not, chances are you're no better than the coaches we have here and that's every football supporter's logic, especially when the locals they'd earmarked have more to show than you. Like it is with the players, no foreign player should come to South Africa to sit on the bench. Every import should be better than what we already have so that they can help improve our game and surely it is fair to expect the same from the coaches as well. Surely a lot of people will think Pitso said all those things based on his success at Mamelodi Sundowns and Ahly, but if you've been following him, you'll know that's been his long-standing view, way before joining Sundowns.
Coach Riveiro, welcome to South Africa, and we wish you everything of the best at the club where you are expected to improve from last season's performance. You come into a team that is desperate for silverware and giving good competition to Mamelodi Sundowns, a club that's been dominating the local scene for more than five seasons now. You've got an opportunity to prove to Bucs supporters that you're not a plumber and that the club was right to appoint you, out of all the available and more experienced coaches in the market. In you, the Bucs faithful expect big things and the local football fraternity expect you to elevate the game. Show Bucs supporters that you're exactly the coach they've been waiting for to take their team to the next level.
