Challenges mount for Hunt as SuperSport embark on a two-week break

GAVIN Hunt was not on the bench when SuperSport United lost 3-1 to TS Galaxy in the Betway Premiership in Mbombela on Tuesday night.

Unfortunately for him, the world of football and especially coaching, works a little differently.

When we read Matsatsantsa A Pitori’s performance record for the 2024/2025 season, we will put his name opposite that loss which was a 10th for the Tshwane side in the league this season.

He will understand, he should understand. After all, he is Gavin Hunt, the most experienced gaffer in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) with over 1000 games to his name in over two decades.

You don’t go that long a journey without finding yourself understanding a few things along the way, now do you.

After all, Hunt, who was serving a suspension, did have a week to prepare the team alongside assistant coach Andre Arendse who was on the bench.

Hunt, the PSL icon who won three consecutive league titles with the very same SuperSport that is now struggling, is the one coach who is well known for despising lengthy breaks of not playing.

But with the way things are in his team this season, maybe the Cape Town-born mentor will appreciate the two-week break ahead for his Matsatsantsa.

With Royal AM remaining matches remaining flagged as postponed, SuperSport find themselves with a bye. 

They were scheduled to play Royal on Friday with their next match coming as late as March 30 against fellow strugglers Cape Town City, due to the international break which will see Bafana Bafana play Lesotho and Benin in the Fifa World Cup qualifiers.

The question is what will Hunt and his technical team be able to change during this two-week bye? 

A Fifa break is not a transfer window. Besides, even if it was, SuperSport have long pleaded poverty and are unable to sign players.

That is one of the problems that are haunting what was supposed to be a memorable season for Hunt - the season he reached 1000 games as a coach.

Hunt has for the past two seasons been forced to work with youngsters, who when blossomed, will be snatched by hometown rivals Mamelodi Sundowns like defender Kegan Johannes or 19-year Shandre Campbell who was signed by belgium’s Club Brugge.

And so Hunt has been left “scavenging” around for unwanted loanees and “cheap” imports from neighbouring countries.

The loss to Galaxy left SuperSport at number 13 after 21 games with only five wins on the board.

Questions have been asked whether Hunt has been left behind from “modern football trends”. 

Something which he himself got a chance to rebuke, and you can bet he was never going to let it slide.

Reality though is that the current SuperSport business is maybe not the right environment to judge Hunt as such. The last time Hunt had a proper team at his disposal was with Bidvest Wits he won the Premiership with in 2017 before they were sold two years later.