Arthur Zwane wasn’t given enough time: Kaizer Chiefs legend Patrick Mabedi

Kaizer Chiefs legend Patrick Mabedi feels his former club acted hastily in demoting Arthur Zwane from the head coach position but is happy he is still part of the Soweto giants’ first team technical staff. 

Zwane was removed from one of the country’s most pressurised hot seats by Chiefs’ management after one season in charge and replaced on Wednesday night by the club’s head of technical and youth development, Molefi Ntseki. Zwane will serve as assistant coach to Ntseki, alongside Dillon Sheppard. 

With the club stating 2022-23 was a campaign to focus on rebuilding, Zwane steered Chiefs to fifth place in the DStv Premiership reached the MTN8 and Nedbank Cup semifinals. Mabedi, a former Amakhosi captain, assistant coach and interim coach, believes that was not a bad result in a rebuilding season. 

“In football you need momentum and that is the problem we are facing — coaches need time,” Mabedi said.

“A team is like [a] construction [project] — people fixing a road do it nicely, but still you will have rain and potholes so you need to maintain it, but as time goes on you master it. 

“I still believe Arthur should have been given enough chances and I think he did what he was supposed to do last season. 

“According to me, he did quite well because the team finished in a respectable position and if he had another season he was going to do better than that. I strongly believe that Arthur did well.” 

Zwane’s appointment was welcomed with excitement by Chiefs fans, but he had to be rescued by police from an angry mob at Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg towards the end of the campaign. 

Mabedi believes his former teammate still has much to offer Chiefs as a future head coach, so he’s glad the club appears to be still grooming him for that. 

“I see Arthur being a head coach of the club in the next few years. He played for the team and has been there in the development structures. 

“I strongly believe with the appointment of a coach who is close to him [Ntseki], they will make a good combination but most importantly, I still believe that Arthur needs to be considered as a long-term coach since he understands the culture and DNA of that team. 

“The new coach will get more information from Arthur about the club and Arthur can get more knowledge from him.” 

Chiefs’ signing policy has been criticised for years. Mabedi believes something has gone wrong in the club’s recruitment department, and suggested Zwane did not have the right players. 

“I think now the season is finished, the board and management need to sit down and review the players’ performances too because the problem normally, with most teams in Africa, is we review the coach’s performance,” Mabedi said.

“If you have quality players that will make your job easy as a coach. And when you recruit you need to make sure you bring better players than the ones you have released. 

“It doesn’t make sense for a team to get rid of a player who is good and replace them with somebody who is worse. If you do that there will be no progress.” 

The Malawi national team coach said in his playing era Chiefs’ management made sure top quality players were signed. He pointed out that Amakhosi boasted many national team players then, but recently have only had few players called up to the Bafana squad.

“I strongly believe when a team of Chiefs’ calibre sign foreign players, they must be national team players. The quality must be high, and not just ordinary players who won’t make any impact. 

“That’s what they used to do with us. When we came to Chiefs, we were national team players. Mohammed Ouseb was a national team player and we found quality players there such as Doctor [Khumalo] and Thabo Mooki. 

“Chiefs were respected, and we need to go back to the same standard because Chiefs is a big team. The local players should be of top quality too, like Jabu Pule [Mahlangu] and others.”