Themba Zwane and Danny Jordaan played a key role in Hugo Broos deciding against an early resignation from his Bafana Bafana post

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has revealed what made him make a last-gasp decision to not step down from his post after a torrid start.

Earlier this month, Broos became the longest serving Bafana coach, surpassing the record of the late Clive Barker, who was in charge for exactly four years.

Broos might have not won the Afcon crown like Barker did 29 years ago, but he’s made some great strides since taking over the reins.

Broos led Bafana to a podium finish in the last Afcon - which was the first after more than two decades, qualified for back-to-back Afcons finals and is on the verge of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.

But those nearly didn’t come into fruition.  Broos nearly resigned in the first few months of his five-year contract after being heavily criticised by all and sundry.

“No, certainly in the first year (it wasn't easy),” Broos recalled. “I know that it is also your job (the media personnel) to criticise, but sometimes the critics were not fair.

“When you lose 5-0 against the world champions, it’s not fair to criticise. You have to be smart enough to see this is normal, especially with an inexperienced team.

“But for many people it wasn’t. They always referred to the 2010 World Cup when they beat France, but forgetting there was big trouble in the French team (then).

“We lost to Morocco 2-1, and we were criticised. And Morocco was fourth six months later in the World Cup, so that was not fair.”

There was a time that the criticism became unbearable that the 72-year-old opened up to his then assistant what he thought of it and his future with the national team.

“I went back home after the first year, and I said to my assistant at that time Cedo (Janevski) that ‘I won’t go back. It’s not nice what they are doing to me’,” the Belgian explained.

“I came back, and said if things go on, in the New Year, I will go not back and things will be finished. Then suddenly, I selected (Themba) Zwane and things changed.

“The guy was 33 or 34 years old at the time. You couldn’t build a future around that. But yeah, Themba is a talented boy and he helped us a lot.

“He came, and we selected a few other players. And suddenly why, I don’t know, but boom, things were getting better and better till our lengthy unbeaten run.”

It was not only the integration of the talismanic and fan-favourite Zwane that turned out to be saving grace for Broos, but a meeting with his boss at the mother body, Safa, as well.

“I think when you start something you need to do it your own way, but you need support,” Broos continued.

“The president of Safa (Danny Jordaan) called me after the France game, and said ‘I need to speak to you coach’. We went to eat something together.

“He said: ‘Let them talk. I know what you are doing. You have my full confidence. They might write and say whatever, but I won’t fire you. If I have to, I will go also.’

“That was something ‘wow’ for me. What this man said to me and meant it, I thought ‘okay, I have a big support now’. I continued with what I was doing.”