Amakhosi’s reinvention under Nabi on track according to Chiefs legend

KAIZER Chiefs legend Siyabonga Nomvethe says he is optimistic his former club will reinvent itself under new leadership in the technical team.

The Soweto giants have entrusted Tunisian tactician Nasreddine Nabi to lead their new plans of reincarnation and reinvigoration, ahead of the 2024/25 Premier Soccer League season.

The 59-year-old mentor has brought on four new members who form part of his new technical team, removing the likes of Dillon Sheppard and long-time club servant Rainer Dinkelacker from their roles.

Amakhosi have so far supported the former Yanga SC coach in the transfer market, having already five new signings to bolster their ranks, replacing the five that departed when the previous season ended.

Fiacre Ntwari (goalkeeper), Bongani Sam (defender), Rushwin Dortley (defender), Gaston Sirino (attacker) and Inacio Miguel are the new faces at Naturena and are expected to have a big part to play in Nabi’s team.

Nomvethe, who used to hit the back of the net for fun in his three years at Kaizer Chiefs between 2001-2003, spoke to Independent Newspapers at the Prince Mangosuthu Legacy Cup launch.

The 46-year-old revealed that he expected Nabi as well as his signings to have an immediate impact at the club and expects them to be up for the challenge of ending the nearly decade-long trophy drought.

“I think there’s quite a lot of players that came on board at the club plus the new coach as well as his own technical team; of course, we will have to wait to see how well he has prepared his team but we are hopeful that he has improved this team,” he said.

“We are also hopeful because there’s that added pressure of starting the season and the club has gone nearly 10 years without a cup, but it is time now for them to ensure that no matter what happens, they get something (cup) out of this season.”

The Glamour Boyz were not one of the highest-scoring teams in the top flight last season and relied mostly on keeping clean sheets to save their season from going from disastrous to nightmare levels.

The club have Ranga Chivaviro, Ashley Du Preez and the young Wandile Duba as the only recognised centre forwards at the club and the trio are expected to share the responsibility of goal-getting in the new campaign.

Nomvethe, who scored 123 top-flight goals and is the PSL all-time leading scorer, felt Chiefs strikers needed to pay more attention to their work in the box and should approach games with a higher desire to score than anyone else on the pitch if they are to improve.

“They should work smarter; their main focus as soon as they enter the field of play should be to score because they’re not playing for fun or to entertain the fans, the fans want to see the team collect three points and if they don’t score then that entire attacking unit is wasting their time.”