Jose Riveiro's incredible ride in his first season in charge at Orlando Pirates is giving further credit to why his appointment shouldn't have been questioned the way it was.
As is always the case his appointment was greeted with 'Jose who?' headlines with some running to call him a plumber.
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The Spaniard has now gone about his job with such unusual calmness in delivering the MTN8, reaching the Nedbank Cup semi-finals, and leading the chase for second place in the league.
So fantastic has been Pirates' form of late that they have won 13 of their last 15 games and are the inform team in the league with six wins in a row.
When Riveiro was appointed at the beginning of the season, former youth international Ryan Botha backed the Spaniard side based on his knowledge of where he was coming from while those that swing with the wind called him names including the famous 'plumber' crucifying him just for being a foreign coach.
"I spoke so well about him because I played for the team that (FC Inter Turku) that he came from and I know what kind of person the owner of the club is," Botha tells KickOff.
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Botha spent several years playing in Finland and had two spells at FC Inter Turku where Riveiro coached before joining Pirates.
"The owner of FC Inter expects a high level of coaching because he pours his own money into the club.
"So, I knew that if he is a coach who has done well at a European league like Finland, which despite being small is technical, then I knew that he has a good technical head in him about the game and had something in him about demanding respect from players.
"Finland is a tough place to go to if you are not from there and I know so because I played there for a while, so I knew that he had that strong character to handle the dressing room.
"I knew it would then come down to if the players gave him a chance because that also counts in South Africa.
"Look now, he has shown Sundowns that he is able to compete and by my account he has done the best job after Sundowns where the coaches and players have been there for a while.
"He is a man who is only in his first season in South Africa, has won the MTN8, is in the semi-finals of the Nedbank Cup and is likely to finish second.
"For me, he has already gone beyond expectations and will have a strong challenger for coach of the season if he wins the Nedbank though its likely to be won by Rulani Mokwena.
"He has been amazing of late, and it has obviously taken him six months to get the players to believe into his philosophy and demands.
"I think the South African public needs to start learning to give coaches a chance especially when coming out of Europe.
"To come out of Europe as a coach who has had some kind of success it means they have good technical understanding of the game at a high level so they will be good in the dressing room.
"He is not only going to be good technical but can drive the dressing room.
"Results are speaking for themselves for this man at Pirates because he has been allowed to do his work.
"You need to understand that it takes about six months to a year for a coach to get his philosophy into a club where he has had no hand in the recruitment of players.
"This man walked into a club where the players were the choice of another coach so what he has done deserves recognition.
"It takes time with these projects, and I know we want to see that South African flair, but it should come with the European mentality.
"South African fans need to be patient in learning to understand this," says Botha.
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