As one of the coaches who did not sign any new players at Kaizer Chiefs, former caretaker coach Cavin Johnson has reflected on the challenges he has faced in his career, ranging from Platinum Stars to Al Ahly.
After initially impressing in his first few months at Chiefs as a replacement for Molefi Ntseki in October last year, there was talk that the Glamour Boys looked to strengthen the team in the January transfer window.
However, Johnson came out in the media that he advised Amakhosi not to sign, as he wanted to work more with the players that he had during the AFCON break in January.
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However, the Soweto giants were a completely different side when they returned from the recess, as they even got close to flirting with relegation and in the end had their worst finish in the league after ending in tenth place in the standings.
After Johnson parted ways with Chiefs, the Naturena-based side, in the off-season, reportedly had a budget of R50 million for new head coach Nasreddine Nabi, who has had a flying start following the signings of the likes of Inacio Miguel, Rushwin Dortley, Bradley Cross, goalkeeper Fiacre Ntwari, Njabulo Blom and Gaston Sirino.
Speaking about the challenges he has encountered in his career, the 65-year-old mentor highlighted the disparity in quality.
"The challenges [I faced], especially coaching at the highest level, was always the quality of players from team to team. You go to Al Ahly, the diversity is not there but the players are mad for that team, they would do everything to play for that team, they would fix themselves psychologically, mentally. They are fighters but they are also technically sound," Johnson said on Junior Khanye Khohlwa podcast.
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"At Platinum Stars, I never had a perfect team but I had a team of workers, understanding and players who wanted to do something for the game and also I was not there for two hours, but for a long period.
"Sometimes at one level, they talk about player power in the change room, the player power in the field, you've got to look at the finesse of that as well and that is relevant in some of the teams I'm watching. Some of the teams I'm watching in the PSL have that spark of player power within the team but it's because the owners give them that power, whereas when you look at Sundowns, there's no such a thing that is happening, it is a group that is working well together," Johnson added.
Nabi, after a good start, has also revealed that Chiefs have given him an "open budget" to sign a striker in the upcoming January transfer window.
