Former Kaizer Chiefs coach Gavin Hunt has been accused of being the initiator of his own problems at Chiefs after failing to produce the needed results in the DStv Premiership campaign this past season.
Hunt, who was on a three-year deal with Chiefs, saw his contract terminated owing to poor results with two games to go in DStv Premiership, although he led the side to the semi-finals of the CAF Champions League.
Chiefs’ goalkeeping legend and former coach, Joseph ‘Banks’ Setlhodi, believes that Hunt couldn’t get along with the players and that led to his failure at the club.
“In football, in order to get the results and to win trophies, you first have to win the players. Put the players into your pocket and zip the pocket so that you know that you are safe. But if you go alone and talk bad about the players, they will destroy you. I’m talking from experience, and I know exactly what I am talking about. Look at what happened at Chiefs (under Hunt), it is not because those players are not good that they have been performing badly like they have been doing, but it was because of the attitude of the coach. As a coach, you don’t have to listen to the players too often, but they have a right to talk to you and raise their issues. You don’t have to overlook them, and you have to make them feel that they are part of you,” he said.
“The way I see it, there were very few players who wanted to play for Gavin Hunt. Look, when you watched (Lebogang) Manyama playing, you could sense that he was not himself. If you looked at (Itumeleng) Khune between the sticks, he was not himself, because already he knew that next season he wouldn’t be in the menu of Gavin Hunt. I’m talking about the senior players that can change things and win the game for you. I will tell you an example about myself, when I took over at Kaizer Chiefs as a coach in 1981. I was a player and playing with the very same players that I coached. At that time, I was a reserve goalkeeper to Peta Bala’c. Whatever I did, I did it with the players. I was not alone in making things,” said Setlhodi.