Kaizer Chiefs are set to end another season without a trophy and may not even qualify for the CAF Confederation Cup, so the big question remains: Is this a failed season? In this week's Friday debate, former Amakhosi players discuss whether or not this has been a failed campaign for the Soweto giants.
'It has been a failed season'
Robson Muchichwa - former Chiefs left back
For me, I'd say it has been a failed season. For a team like Chiefs, you cannot say you are building. What are you building? Chiefs is a big team and there is no time for building. So, I think it's a failed season and you can't even say you are comparing it to the previous season. They haven't reached a cup final. Players have not come to the party and we can say the coach and they need to do something about this. Maybe they need someone with a bit more experience. I don't want to go too much into what happens in the coaching, but the team has to do better. You can say it has been a better season for Pirates because they have a cup and they are in the final (of the Nedbank Cup). If you are not going to reach a CAF competition, then it's fail. There's nothing more I can say about this.
Mokete Tsotetsi - former Chiefs defender
To be honest, I can say the season has not been so good according to the standard. Obviously, it has not been a good one, but there is a lot of positivity in it. They reached the semi-final of a cup. Yes, it's not the final, but reaching the semi-final is a positive and it shows that there is something to build on for next season. The season did not go according to the standard and what the coach would have wanted to achieve, but it's his first season as a head coach and I think he did his level best. He learnt from his mistakes, but there are positives to build on for next season. We can criticise and say what we want to, but it's been a fair season. He didn't fail, he didn't achieve. It's just been a fair season and I think next season will be much better. Remember, you can't learn if you don't make mistakes. Most people look at the negatives, but they forget about the positives. There are some positives, and I don't think they are overshadowed by the negatives. I think next season they can achieve something.
Masilo Machaka - Chiefs supporter
Chiefs have failed this season because there is nothing we can show. It's like going to school. If you don't get good results at the end of the year, it means you have failed. There is nothing that shows you should progress to the next grade. So, it means you are still stuck in the same place you were. It's the same with Chiefs. We are still stuck in the same place we were last season and other years. There is no other way we can put it, Chiefs has failed. I always say being at Chiefs is heavy. Recruitment of players is important. When you look at players like (Christian) Saile and Caleb (Bimenyinana), when a foreigner comes to the country, he has to be three times better than what we have in South Africa. When you look back, Chiefs had striker like (Wedson) Nyirenda, (Collins) Mbesuma and (Knowledge) Musona. They came here and made an impact. It's the same with Peter Shalulile at Sundowns. So, when you are a striker that comes from outside, they need to give us what we don't have in our country and they have to be leading goal scorers. We welcome them, but they have to be three times better. The recruitment of players at Chiefs is not right at the moment. The players who are at Chiefs are not the quality of Chiefs. In South Africa, we like short cuts and cutting corners. When it comes to the field of play, there are no short cuts. It's like school. You can't take short cuts when it comes to school. Back in the day, you'd never beat Chiefs in a semi-final of a cup. Right now, I don't know what direction we are going in. What we see now is embarrassing.
