The topic of Kaizer Chiefs’ poor showing in the league, plus all matters related to players coming in, is taking a prime spot at the club ahead of the new season.
Chiefs are back at training under Nasreddine Nabi in preparation for the new season, which will include a return to the CAF Confederation Cup.
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Through the month of July, they will travel to the Netherlands for pre-season and also play Ghanaian giants Asante Kotoko in the Toyota Cup on July 26.
With all that is happening, the club’s marketing and commercial director, Jessica Motaung, had to handle questions thrown at her on Thursday.
"The market is competitive, and we have to be honest and say that the market is competitive," says Motaung in discussing the transfer market.
"We have always been able to get players of stature and that is something that we are doing all the time.
"I know that the guys are working very hard behind the scenes to make that happen.
"Ninth and tenth place is not great for us and that is part of the difficult conversation that we had to have.
"We cannot find ourselves there again.
"So, definitely the vision has always been to ascend and take our rightful place in South African and African football.
"The vision is there, and the work is being done behind the scenes, and we will even make the hard decisions to make sure we get there,” she notes, while defending the squad that Nabi had last season.
"We have to be fair in that there is always challenges for players, but I’m grateful for the players who have dedicated themselves to Chiefs from the past and present.
"For me, I would say at Chiefs we work as a team, and we must be honest about the fact that sometimes things work out and at times they don’t.
"I think the guys on the technical side are working very hard and they have the support of the board and the chairman and all of us even at the marketing side.
"We must be fair in that the market has changed and the climate has changed, and every team goes through cycles and changes.
"There was a time when certain teams were not at the top and experiencing challenges and we are fortunate in that we have had years and years of absolute success.
"It is just now that we have had a period of challenges, and it is great that we have won the Nedbank Cup.
"We need to need to be careful in saying we didn’t have good players when those players won us the Nedbank Cup.
"We need to be grateful for the work that has been done, but certainly we are continuing to look at getting the right players.
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"Sometimes it is coaching style and sometimes there isn’t a fit with players or it’s a cultural issue, so we have to be fair when things don’t work out.
"But certainly, on our side we are making sure that we are looking at players that we think will fit, players that can play a certain style, and blend into what the Chiefs culture is about.
"One thing we can proud of is our academy," says Motaung.
Photo: Gallo Images
