Benni McCarthy says that new Kaizer Chiefs coach Gavin Hunt is a born winner whose record speaks for itself and the former Bidvest Wits boss doesn’t need his endorsement.
The four-time league winning coach was appointed as Ernst Middendorp’s successor and will be tasked with ending the club’s five-year trophy drought.
It will, however, not be an easy task for the newly appointed Amakhosi boss as the club still faces a transfer ban from Fifa and as things stand he will not be able to bring in any new faces to Naturena.
Speaking to SoccerLaduma, former Cape Town City coach McCarthy, who was linked with the Chiefs job, said that while the ban is an issue Chiefs still have the quality and now have a born winner at the helm.
“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,” said the Bafana Bafana legend.
“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.
“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.
“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.”
