Benni McCarthy has added his voice to the growing analysis on whether Gavin Hunt and Kaizer Chiefs will be a match made in football heaven.
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Amakhosi appointed the serial winning coach on a three-year contract last month to replace Ernst Middendorp, but he faces a debut season without the chance to be able to bring in new faces because of the FIFA ban.
“He is a born winner, there’s no two ways about it. You will have people that accept and those that don’t accept the type of football. But coach Hunt’s record speaks for itself. Chiefs have not had major success the last few years and now they’ve snapped up one of the best coaches the country has – I hope it can work out,” McCarthy told the Siya crew.
“Chiefs is a big institute, it’s not just a football club, like Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns are. When these clubs do well, we see a massive rise in fans at the game, so you always want them to be successful. But coach Hunt is an old pro in this, so he doesn’t need my endorsement.”
McCarthy also weighed in on Chiefs’ two-window FIFA ban, and with no outcome yet from the Court of Arbitration for Sport on their appeal, Hunts kicks off his rein on the backfoot.
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“The FIFA ban is obviously still an issue, that’s going to be a tough one. For any coach to come into a situation like that, not able to bring in a few of your own players to freshen things up and bring a new dimension to the team and make fighting for places interesting again, it will be extremely tough,” said the former Cape Town City coach.
“I won’t say it’s a game-changer because Chiefs have a talented squad, they would not have led the whole season if that wasn’t the case. But every talented squad always needs two, three or four new faces just to spark new life. If he is not able to do that, then people will have to be a little patient. I pray that the ban is lifted.”
Story @superjourno
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