Kaizer Chiefs coach Arthur Zwane says the success the mighty Amakhosi supporters yearn for won’t happen overnight.
Zwane's tenure as Amakhosi senior team head coach started with a 1-0 defeat to Royal AM in Durban at the weekend.
The club legend has a tough task ahead of him to turn the fortunes of the side around and bring back the glory days.
Chiefs have gone at least seven years without silverware and are going through a rebuilding process preceded by a host of changes in the playing and coaching personnel.
While Zwane was pleased with the performance of his side and that of his new players, such as Siyethemba Sithebe and Yusuf Maart, he admitted there’s still a long way to go.
“I think we are still far from where we want to be. As much as we are building in all aspects in terms of confidence, the way of play, the culture and all those things, it’s not going to be something that will happen overnight.
“It’s going to take some time, but that’s why we are going to have to go through stages. There are phases that you have to make sure you complete this one first and be sure that everyone is on the same page before you move to the next one.
“Otherwise you won’t be able to involve everything at once and that will cause sort of a division and players won’t even know whether they are coming or going,” he said.
In his assessment, Zwane suggested Chiefs are not even half way to where they can start talking about being things such as challenging Sudowns for the league title.
“But I’m still saying, what I saw [against Royal AM], it gives me so much hope in terms of the way the players responded. Because playing expansive football is very difficult. It comes with a lot of coaching, tactical understanding and game intelligence, so we are still far from it.”
The good thing for Zwane and Chiefs is most of their supporters appear to still back them despite the defeat.
“But I know we are going to get there, most definitely, because we are trying to kill two birds with one stone. We are not in a hurry to get there, but eventually we are going to get there,” Zwane said.
Chiefs will play their first home game of the season against John Maduka’s Maritzburg United at FNB Stadium in Joburg on Tuesday (7.30pm).
Maritzburg kicked off their season with a 1-1 draw against Sekhukhune United in the capital of KwaZulu-Natal at the weekend.
DStv Premiership Fixtures
Tuesday
Richards Bay vs Marumo Gallants FC — 3pm
Swallows vs Cape Town City FC — 5pm
Kaizer Chiefs vs Maritzburg United — 7.30pm
Wednesday
AmaZulu vs SuperSport Utd — 5pm
Sekhukhune vs Golden Arrows — 7.30pm
Chippa United vs Royal AM — 7.30pm
Stellenbosch vs Orlando Pirates — 7.30pm
Sundowns vs TS Galaxy — 7.30pm
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