Will splashing on new players bring Chiefs results?

WHAT does a team that has just endured a wretched domestic season do to prepare for the next one? Raid the transfer market, of course.

After all, isn’t it that poor seasons are almost always put down to a lack of the requisite playing personnel? Unless of course the finger of blame points directly at the technical head, in which case the poor coach gets sent packing quicker than you can say top eight. Even then, the new incumbent is bound to send management scouring the market as he looks to have the squad made of his type of players. And when that particular club had just come from a season that saw them banished from doing any player trading following an infringement of the transfer rules, a shopping spree is a given.

The question, though, is whether splashing out on new players will deliver the desired result – silverware haul for a club that has recently appeared allergic to success.

Kaizer Chiefs fans, tired of seeing their Mamelodi Sundowns rivals celebrating domestic championship success, are hopeful that the tide will finally turn their way this coming campaign.

What with Amakhosi having just gone all the way to the CAF Champions League albeit only to be humiliated 3-0 by Pitso Mosimane’s Al Ahly.

The continental campaign served to quell the bitter taste of a domestic run that had threatened to see them miss out on the top eight until Arthur Zwane and Dillon Sheppard stepped into the breach following the premature sacking of coach Gavin Hunt and earned the club a spot in the season-opening competition.

Former coach Stuart Baxter, a multiple championship winner with the club, has returned to Naturena with the promise of yet another trophy-laden spell.

As if that was not enough to have those ‘Khosi for Life’ fans who swear by the peace sign cock-a-hoop as they anticipate the next season, the club has gone and acquired the services of the highly-rated Keagan Dolly. In ‘luring’ the Bafana Bafana midfielder back from France, Chiefs have resurrected that brilliant trio of players who helped make Sundowns the kings of local football about four seasons ago. Dolly, along with Khama Billiat and Leonardo Castro, formed that deadly trio which Mosimane termed the CBD.

Could they do the same at Chiefs? The Amakhosi faithful certainly hope so, although the reality is that those brilliant days of the CBD are seasons behind us. In any case, the trio worked under a coach who plays his game very differently to how Baxter does.

Still, Dolly should contribute in helping Chiefs to a much better season than the previous one.

Chiefs have also signed the industrious Cole Alexander who played under Baxter when they were both in India. The man who has played for numerous clubs in the elite local league and for the national team should do a great job of filling the gap left by veteran Willard Katsande, the Zimbabwean the solitary one to be let go among the senior players whose contracts had expired.

In extending the contracts of Billiat, Bernard Parker, Ramahlwe Mphahlele, Lebogang Manyama and Itumeleng Khune the club went against the grain of what most believed – that Chiefs were due an injection of young fresh blood as the seasoned campaigners no longer had the drive for further success.

Naturena will, however, counter that by pointing to the acquisition of Kgaogelo Sekgota and the return of their former development player Given Thibedi. And while they are not really young blood, the duo of Phathutshedzo Nange and Njabulo Ngcobo are hungry for success and will add a sprinkle of enthusiasm into the team while veteran Sifiso Hlanti brings with him wealth of experience.

Such has been Amakhosi’s activity in the transfer market that they have definitely raised hopes among their faithful that they will end their six years long trophy drought. For that to happen though, it will take more than just Baxter’s tactical acumen and the players applying themselves.

Amakhosi need to rediscover that winning desire which has somehow been missing in their play, the majority of the players often appearing to be going through the motions in previous seasons – perhaps having all experienced success.

There are a few new players in the squad now who have not experienced success in the Amakhosi gold and black. They are sure to be keen to deliver proper silverware to Naturena and in that way should invigorate the club with a new sense of hunger for glory that has been missing at the club lately. Granted, winning tomorrow’s pre-season Carling Cup against traditional rivals Orlando Pirates will not count. But it is sure to set the tone for the season ahead and leave club boss Kaizer Motaung believing he was right to approve of the kind of raiding Chiefs have done in the market.