Hi there! As an avid fan of the Football Manager series over many years, I've grown to love the game more and more each edition. I've attempted a couple of stories over the last few months which haven't really taken off and I lost interest in them quite quickly, but I decided recently to attempt something I haven't yet done on any edition of Football Manager, the renowned Pentagon Challenge.
I loaded a database with at least one country from each continent and decided to begin my challenge in a country I've never managed in, which was South Africa. Now, please bear in mind, I'm now into my 3rd season of this challenge, which means there will be a fair bit of back tracking and a pretty fast pace to begin with. To try and give me a slight head start, I decided to change my attributes to the team I'd selected's attributes, which in turn gave me a Continental B License and a national footballer reputation.
So, who was this mysterious club I had decided to join in the deep south of Africa....
That club was Kaizer Chiefs FC, a super power in South Africa. The Amakhosi, which actually means chiefs or lords in the the native language Zulu, as they're more commonly known locally, play in the Soweto region of Johannesberg. Their biggest rivals, the Orlando Pirates, also play in the city.
Kaizer Chiefs have a more than decent squad, boasting a host of South African internationals, most notably captain Siphiwe Tshabalala, the marauding winger who scored the opening goal of the 2010 World Cup for Bofana Bofana against Mexico.
Another notable member of the Kaizer Chiefs squad is goalkeeper Itemeleng Khune. After spending all of his professional career with the Chiefs, he's a fan favourite and has propelled himself high enough to become the undisputed South African number one goalkeeper by some stretch.
There are some real gems in that team, with the likes of the brute that is Erick Mathoho in central defence, the creative George Maleluka in midfield and the talisman that is Bernard Parker, as well as the two star players previously mentioned, this is a squad with real quality and should be looking to regain the title they lost IRL to Sundowns last season.
Moving on, Kaizer Chiefs have a rich domestic history and are one of South Africa's most decorated clubs. Having won the league on no less than 12 occasions as well as a combined total of 72 domestic/continental cup competitions since their formation in January 1970, it's clear to see why the Kaizer Chiefs of South Africa are one of the world's best supported clubs. The club moved back into the newly renovated FNB Stadium back in 2009 just ahead of the 2010 South African World Cup. The stadium has a capacity of 94,796 and is more commonly known as 'Soccer City'.
The South African league runs pretty much parallel to the English leagues, continental competitions aside, so it's a pretty familiar feel to the game as I'm used to playing within the big European leagues.
As mentioned before, I'm into my third season on this save, hence the lack of screenshots so far as I don't want to give much away, therefore I'll update with 2 detailed posts for each season so far, then as my third year is almost coming to an end, I'll post the third season update. After that, there will be monthly updates from season 4 onwards.
So, I took over Kaizer Chiefs as a rookie in terms of managing, never mind a club of this stature. Having already gone through the squad available to me and the nature of it, I decided there was a need for a few reinforcements, particularly in defence, although all outfield areas were strengthened to some degree in the first season, whether it be via the loan market or free transfers.
The only player that was brought in permanently in my debut season was Justice Chabalala, a young 18 year old centre back who impressed last season at FS Stars and was always going to move on to bigger and better things. We agreed a relatively low figure in my opinion for such a rising prospect, but I wasn't complaining. Next up was the first of 2 loanees this season, Reece Brown. IRL, I'm a Birmingham fan so know quite a bit about the youngsters coming through and this lad gets mentioned more than most. He's a combative midfielder with a questionable temperament sometimes, but undoubted ability. I decided it would be a fantastic opportunity for him to join us in South Africa for a year for a taste of what playing for a top club is like, because there's no doubt he'll play at a level higher than Birmingham in the future. The next 2 brought in were more reinforcements in the defensive areas, with Andre Bikey-Amougou, formally of Reading and Burnley, and Paulo Assuncao, once of Porto. Both would be backup to the first team. The final addition was another loanee, this time from the Premier League outfit Bournemouth. Tokelo Rantie is South African which was a bonus as he didn't have to be registered as a foreign player in the league, freeing up space for another import. The only player of note to leave the club was Lorenzo Gordinho out on loan, he's another up and coming centre back who one day I hoped would partner Justice Chabalala in the side.
I didn't actually join the Chiefs until the opening game of the ACL (African Champions League) group stage. The club had previously qualified under the stewardship of former manager Steve Komphela who went on to become the national team manager. Unfortunately, we lost the first available piece of silverware to our closest rivals in the Be A Coach Challenge, losing by 2 goals to 1 against the Pirates. This is where the fans of each club pick 20 players to play in a match, okay it may not be an important piece of silverware, but it still would have been nice to win. Moving on, we did manage to win the Super 8 competition, beating Maritzburg United in the quarters, getting revenge against the Pirates over a 2 legged semi final and winning the final against Wits by 4 goals to 3 after extra time to give me my first managerial success and taste of silverware. Again, not a particularly important competition in South Africa, but a good one to get on the board all the same.
The league campaign was sketchy to say the least, as was the Champions League group stage. We managed just 6 points from 6 games in the group stages and were consequently knocked out of the AFC. This meant we could concentrate solely on domestic matters now until the new year when a new ACL would begin, although we'd have to qualify first given the league position from the previous season IRL. View attachment 148933
The middle part of the season left an almost bittersweet taste in the mouth. We managed to win another trophy, beating the Pirates in the South African Knockout Cup final on penalties, but more and more damage was being done in our league campaign. We just couldn't find a sustained period of form for the whole season and it was costing us dearly. The ACL had begun again though, and we successfully managed to progress from the Prelim Round after thrashing Kabwe Warriors 9-1 on aggregate over 2 legs.
In the final part of the season, we ended up finishing the league campaign in an extremely poor 4th place. It was a big blow for a club of this size, not only for confidence, but financially too, as it would mean that there would be no ACL next season. This coming summer, there would be, thanks to the previous year's position IRL, as mentioned before, but this time next season, my Chiefs would be preparing for an African Confideration Cup campaign, the European equivalent to the Europa League, if I was still in charge of course...
We still managed to navigate our way through 2 more ACL qualifying stages against ENPPI, beating them 5-1 on aggregate and RC Kadiogo 6-0 on aggregate thanks to a thumping victory in the first leg. Finally, the first 2 group matches of the new ACL group stages were played, one against newly crowned South African Champions Sundowns which we lost 4-1, and Raja Casablanca of Morocco, a game we triumphed in by winning 3-1.
So the final table didn't make good reading for us, but I was convinced if we could have a good ACL campaign the board would let me continue the work I'd started. I was given an ultimatum due to the poor season we'd had, pick up 10 points from the first 5 games in the new season, or I was a goner. No pressure....
Gone were the disruptive influences of Andre Bikey-Amougou and brought in were solid, dependable players. The vast majority of players released were deadwood and hadn't got anywhere near the first team and have now retired from football to persue other careers, but one player I was disappointed to lose was Reyaad Pieterse. He was a young keeper with high potential but was just not going to get the games he craved with Khune still under 30.
We did however manage to bring in some real talent this summer. 22 year old Kgosi Ntlhe joined from English League 1 side Peterborough for a hefty £1m price tag, but I was confident he'd be the perfect replacement for the ageing Tsepo Masilela at left back in years to come. Another bonus was that he was South African also. We also brought Tokelo Rantie back to the club and his homeland for good with a £275k fee agreed with Bournemouth. We hope he will now kick on with his permanent deal. Lebohang Manyama impressed at Supersport this season and with him being out of contract it was a great opportunity to seize another South African national without the need for a fee. He would challenge Tshabalala and George Lebese for the left wing role on the pitch. Another name more than likely to be familiar to English fans is Adlene Guedioura. Formally of Wolves, Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest, the Watford man found himself on the transfer list for a very low figure so I took a punt on him and for the lowly sum of £185k he joined us back in his home continent. We also signed Jeisel on loan from ATM in Brazil to reinforce the centre back position.
As you can see we also did a fair bit of business in January, bringing in 3 players. Thapelo Morena from Bloemfontein Celtic would slot right into the side on the right of midfield as a winger after an extremely impressive first half to the season, we snapped him up for £275k. Also we signed 2 youngsters, both 18 in Liam Jordan, a striker, and Kobamelo Kodisang for a combined total of £775k from Wits and Platinum Stars respectively. Both of these youngsters would get their chances in the remaining months of the season.
So going back to July, the new season was underway in the ACL. We managed to get out of an easier group this year, topping it ahead of Stade Mallen, Sundowns and Raja Casablanca.
We also had a fantastic start to the league campaign, remaining unbeaten through until February as you'll see in the next section. This gave us the platform to challenge for the title again. We also won the Be A Coach challenge this year, again against the Pirates, but were unfortunately knocked out of the ACL at the semi final stage by ES Sahel, losing on away goals after failing to score one for ourselves in the first leg in Tunisia.
As mentioned before, the unbeaten run from the end of the previous season lasted through until February, when we finally lost against Ajax Cape Town. It was a fantastic achievement all the same to go that long unbeaten, which incidentally broke a club record in the process. Also, the additions at the turn of the year really did help us maintain our pace at the top of the league, particularly thanks to the arrival of Thapelo Morena, who proved to be a revelation on the right wing, playing exceptionally well in the run in. We also made it through to the South African FA Cup semi finals, a competition we failed to make past the first hurdle last season.
As soon as our domestic season was coming to an end with a South African FA Cup win against the FS Stars thanks to a 2-0 in the final, some more silverware to add to the CV, the continental campaign was just starting to begin. We won the title with 2 games to spare, the win against Polokwane City enough to win the title back from Sundowns. As mentioned before, the continental exploits this season would consist of the sister competition, the African Confederation Cup (ACC). We began with the Prelim Round back in February where we demolished Espoir 11-0 over two legs. The first qualifying round proper was against Al-Ittihad of Libya, again, it was pretty easy and we won 8-1 on aggregate this time. The second qualifying round proved to be slightly more difficult against CA Bizerte, drawing the first leg 1-1 but winning the second by 3 goals to nil back at Soccer City. There was yet another qualification round to get through, this time against Al-Merreikh. Again, we made light work of them, winning 6-1 across two legs when finally, we had qualified for the group stages of the ACC. Our group contained compatriots Supersport United, Ismaily of Egypt and Saint-Michel of the Congo.
Here is the final league table. We won the league comfortably by 7 points ahead of our closest challengers Ajax Cape Town and will be hoping to retain next season as well as possibly getting some African success on the continent, plus starting another ACL campaign.
So another season has come and gone in South Africa for me and the Kaizer Chiefs, we had a title to defend and the ACC group stages had gotten underway, as well as in the new year a brand new ACL campaign would get underway also, this year with us in it!
First of all, the transfer update was like this...
We let a few players leave on free transfers this summer for a variety of reasons. Siboniso Gaxa wasn't getting the football he craved at the tail end of his career and wasn't going to here so we let him go. Paulo Assuncao had been a good servant to the club for 2 years but he was way past his best so we let him depart also. Reneilwe Letsholonyane was the subject of a bid from Ismaily and at 34, I thought it was a good decision to let him leave for a fee rather than let his contract run out as he wasn't getting near the first team. Another departure was Bongani Ndulula to Ajax Cape Town. He was complaining about a lack of first team football and despite a decent season in front of goal for us, I decided we had enough options upfront with him out of the side to have a real go again this season. Plus we got a very good figure of £100k for him. The majority of the other departures were players released who again, weren't getting near the first team and didn't have a future at the club, or loans again, like Justice Chabalala who went to Al-Gaish this season.
Coming into the club for fee's were Remy Bensebaini from CA Bizerte, a side we had faced in the not so recent past where he first caught the eye. We paid a handsome figure for a defender, but with the likes of Gaxa and Assuncao off the wage bill, we could afford to spend some money this summer. He arrived for £500k and would replace Gaxa in the backup position in defence. Next in was Rheece Evans from Ajax Cape Town. He was an attacking full back brought in again to replace Gaxa who could also play at right back. A low figure for him at just £23k. I received an email telling me of the South African trial day, where players released from their clubs would showcase their talents in an attempt to find a new club. Following this trial day, we signed 3 relatively young players who I hoped would really kick on here. First was Masalealo Saenego. A right winger who I brought in to challenge Thapelo Morena for that position this season. Next was Jacob Khune, the younger brother of our talismanic goalkeeper Itumeleng. On the same day we took a punt on Kwanele Zulu, a 20 year old striker who I hoped to loan out to get some top division experience this season. The final 2 players were 2 I hoped would really add some steel to the midfield this season. Well known in England, Joey Barton and Cheick Tiote were brought in on free transfers to provide backup to the first team. The final addition came in January to replace the space in the squad vacated by the departed Bongani Ndulula. Idriss Mhirsi was brought in from reigning ACL champions ES Tunis for approximately £550k. We hoped his goals would help us kick on and defend the title we won last season.
Unfortunately, we lost the Be A Coach Challenge again this year to our greatest rivals, but it's not a competition high on my priority list. Adding to our final defeats was a loss in the Super 8 Cup final, this time to Ajax Cape Town who stole our crown with a late goal from no other than the man we sold to them, Bongani Ndulula. Again, not a huge shame, but it would have been nice for at least some early season success. Onto some better news, we only dropped 2 points in our ACC group, meaning we topped the group and had been rewarded with a semi final against our greatest Souh African rivals the Orlando Pirates. After a 1-1 draw away from home in the first leg, we battered the Pirates back at Soccer City with a 4-2 win to put us into our first continental final under my stewardship. In that final we would be facing another compatriot Wits. Our league season didn't get off to the best of starts, particularly with a 5 game winless streak in December not helping our defence of the title. All of this proceeded the fantastic 2 legged ACC final though, which we won on aggregate by 7 goals to 1, giving me my first taste of continental success with the Chiefs. It may not have been the competition we wanted to be in, but we still showed the character to go ahead and win it.
The majority of the rest of the season looked like this...
After winning our first African title, the baron spell of December was overshadowed by a fantastic start to 2018, with us losing just one game from the start of the year through until the 18th April. In that period we have navigated our way through the Prelim Round of the ACL qualifying also, beating Volontaire 16-0 on aggregate. We also achieved more African success in the African Super Cup, beating ACL winners ES Tunis 2-1 thanks to a late goal by the former Tunis man Mhirsi. As well as this, we got into the South African FA Cup semi finals after wins against Glendene United, Ajax Cape Town and Supersport United. Our semi final opponent would be the Orlando Pirates. We also managed to navigate our way through 2 more Champions League qualification rounds, with aggregate wins of 13-1 over Dedebit and 6-1 over Coton Sport meaning we had qualified for the group stages of next seasons ACL, the second leg result will be in the next screenshot. The title race was becoming very exciting with us, Sundowns and the Black Aces in a three horse race to the finish line.
The end of the season was a bittersweet one. A 4 games winless streak in April really dented our chances, particularly the 3-1 loss against eventual champions Black Aces. It did go down to the final day, but both us and the Black Aces managed to draw, them against Ajax Cape Town, giving them their maiden title in South Africa. We did however manage to beat them just 4 days after they'd won the league in the South African FA Cup final, meaning we had successfully defended the competition we had won last year.
Our ACL group stage opponents would be CA Bizerte, TP Mazembe and Raja Casablanca. Having played against 2 of those 3 in the last 3 years, I'm confident of topping this group and qualifying for the semi finals with relative ease.
Second place was all we could manage this year after 2 pretty baron spells in December in April which really cost us in our defence. I'll be hoping to continue next season with a strong league campaign and really going all out to win the ACL.
There will now be more detailed monthly game updates as I've now caught up with the story, it'll be different and a slightly slower pace but I hope you'll be also be able to follow the story a little easier.
With the ACL group stages getting underway at the end of June, this meant that the players only had approximately 2 weeks after the South African FA Cup final to themselves before pre-season began at the start of June.
We would play no games in that period, but just concentrate purely on fitness and tactical tweaks between now and the game on the 30th June against CA Bizerte.
We are also yet to make any inroads as regards to incoming transfers, but there have been some departures from the Chiefs squad. The only player to leave for a fee was the ageing Willard Katsande, a wonderful servant to the club over the years but unfortunately wasn't getting near the first team too often due to the brilliance of Thapelo Morena and the competition too strong in the centre of the park. He will join the Black Leopards for approximately £1.1k.
There were more departures as first team veterans Joey Barton's and Tsepo Masilela's contracts came to and end. Masilela's time with us came to an end almost like a fairy tale with his goal late on in the South African FA Cup final against the Black Aces, it was the perfect way to bow out. Joey had an impressive start with us, but tailed off throughout the season, losing out in the competition for places in central midfield to the likes of Maleluka, Guedioura and Tiote. The others to leave were all youngsters that had failed to impress in the time I had been there and were subsequently released.
So, the time had come to partake in our first ACL match for well over a year. CA Bizerte were a side we managed to progress against when we last played them in the ACL 2 years ago, but now they were a different animal and the media predicted that they would be our toughest challenge in this group.
And so it proved. A shocking performance from us, but take nothing away from the performance from CA Bizerte. They came to Soccer City and were at it from the off. We just couldn't handle the fantastic play of Ali Yachir and he ended up being the match winner and man of the match. I was extremely disappointed with the players after the objectives were set out clearly that I expected to top this group and go ahead and challenge for this title. The next 5 group games were must win in my opinion to show our superiority.
Next month see's us play one friendly and 2 more ACL group matches, hopefully we can get our ACL campaign back on track with our next match against TP Mazembe.
So after what was a poor June, we needed to progress and get a win under our belt as soon as possible in this season's ACL.
Our first bit of news in June is regarding transfers. We brought in a player who had just been released by Supersport United, Cole Alexander. He would challenge Thapelo Morena for the right wing position.
These are the departures in July, none were really ever going to challenge the first team so we decided to let them either leave permanently, or the younger guys were more than likely loans.
The only other outgoing this month was a sad one with club captain Siphiwe Tshabalala deciding to hang up his boots at the age of 33. His career had been curtailed towards the end with a number of serious injuries which rapidly increased the speed of his decline which was a huge shame for such a fan favourite. He managed to win everything in the South African game and is the most decorated South African footballer ever, so he's had a wonderful career. We now hope we can win the Champions League for him. He wasn't to leave to club for good though, he immediately became an under 19 coach so would work with me more closely with the youngsters coming through here at Kaizer.
And as you can see, we were extremely poor again. We lost the game by 3 goals to 1 and didn't really ever look like challenging at all. It would seem this group is a lot stronger than we first anticipated, therefore there was going to have to be some changes for the third match against Raja Casablanca. There was one bit of positive news that came out of the game though, the late consolation scored by Edward Manqele was enough to break an ACL record which he already held by scoring 12 goals in one ACL campaign. But at the end of the night, we were rock bottom of the group with 2 games played and nothing to show for them. It was now going to be very tough to progress from this group now.
Just after the TP match, the African club rankings were announced, which showed we were the 5th most reputable club in Africa which is no mean feat when you look at the rest of the teams above us.
For those of you interested, there was a surprise winner of the World Cup in 2018, with Italy triumphing in the final after a penalty shootout against the other surprise package in the tournament, England. Same old story I guess....
Back to the Chiefs and our first friendly of the new season was against Highlands Park. I played a relatively second string side with a few youngsters but some experience too.
And it came together quite well with a convincing 3-1 win, exactly what we needed after 2 poor results in the ACL. George Lebese staked a claim for a starting place with 2 and Edward Manqele got the other. One bit of bad news from the game was a serious injury to Rheece Evans who tore a hamstring and would miss the next 3 months.
After the game we'd been given the news that we'd been drawn against the FS Stars in the quarter finals of the Super 8. Incidentally, former player Joey Barton had taken his first steps into management to take over the Stars, so it'd be good to welcome him back to Soccer City as a manager of the opposition this time.
It was a tough one, but we got those 3 points. After taking the lead twice thanks to an extremely early goal from George Maleluka and another from Edward Manqele's penalty in the second half, it looked like we were only going to manage a draw until Idris Mhirsi stepped up late on to clinch the win with a fantastic header at the back post. We had our first win on the board and could now hopefully kick on and really test the rest of this group with all of the players now up to speed.
The final game of the month was the aforementioned Be A Coach Challenge at Soccer City.
Unfortunately, Eric Tinkler and his Pirates side came away victorious meaning they had successfully defended the title they had won against us last year again.
Next month in August we'll face 2 more ACL group games as well as the Super 8 quarter final, plus the South African Premiership gets underway!
August got underway with a couple of friendlies against Kings United and Polokwane City with us managing a couple of wins to boot which was a good start to the month.
We then moved onto more important matters including the attempted ACL comeback. The next match was against TP Mazembe again. We lost 3-1 against them back in July so really needed to get some revenge.
We managed a fantastic win against Mazembe with us thrashing them 4-0! Goals for Manqele, Jordan and 2 for Bernard Parker meant we ended the night, somehow, top of the group, an even bigger bonus!
So after the high of going top of the ACL group, competitive domestic matches got underway, the first of which was in the Super 8 against Joey Barton's FS Stars. We then faced 2 league matches in 4 days against Supersport United and Bloemfontein Celtic.
We managed 3 fantastic wins, first of all in the Super 8 then 2 in the league which took us top. This gave us a huge confidence boost ahead of our next match which was in the ACL again against CA Bizerte.
Amazingly, our winning streak emphatically continued and we managed to retain our position at the top of the group following a brilliant 4-1 win against the Tunisians. The next day, the news just kept getting better with Raja Casablanca and TP Mazembe only managing a draw, this meant we had successfully qualified for the semi finals of this seasons ACL, the furthest we had progressed in this competition under me!
After the high of the news of our qualification, we needed to concentrate on matters back at home with a Super 8 semi final first leg against the Pirates.
Unfortunately, there seemed to be some kind of qualification hangover as we didn't perform anywhere near as well as we had the previous few weeks, meaning we had to turn it around in the second leg to try and win this competition again.
The final bit of August's news is regarding some outgoings again. We let 2 lads go on permanent deals who were not going to get anywhere near the team in the near future whilst the other went out on loan to try and get some first team experience and come back pushing for a first team place.
In September, we'd play our final ACL match as well as the semi finals getting underway, we'd try and turn around the Super 8 semi final as well as trying to continue our good start to the league season.
So after what was largely a successful month beforehand, I was hoping we could continue our good form going into September. Before any games begun, there was some good news to start the month as I had been awarded the manager of the month for August after a solid start to the league season.
Also, there were no more outgoings or arrivals at the club as we looked to continue the good form without anybody coming in at that time who could potentially rock the boat.
So, first up this month was the second leg of our Super 8 semi final against the Pirates. We trailed 2-1 after the first leg and were desperate to get another one over on our greatest rivals.
Unfortunately, it wasn't to be. We only managed a draw in the derby back at Soccer City meaning the Pirates had made their way to the final. It's not a competition high on the list of priorities as mentioned previously, but it's a nice one to win.
Our next game saw us take on Raja Casablanca in our final ACL group game at Soccer City.
I did field a slightly weakened team but there was no excuse for losing to this quality of opposition. Despite the loss, we somehow still managed to finish top of our group, meaning we were one of 2 sides seeded for the semi final draw. That draw would take place the next day and would reveal we'd be facing fellow compatriot's Ajax Cape Town in the semi's, a side I was confident in progressing against over 2 legs.
Following the draw, we faced 3 league matches in quick succession. First up was the FS Stars at Soccer City. We comfortably dispatched of them by 4 goals to 1 thanks to goals from Mhirsi, Xulu and 2 for Manqele. Next up was a dress rehearsal for the ACL semi's against Ajax Cape Town. My earlier confidence was backed up thanks to another win, this time finishing 3-1 to the Amakhosi thanks to goals from Rantie, Manqele and Morena. The final game of this 3 match league spell was against the Orlando Pirates, another chance to get revenge following the defeat in the Super 8 semi final earlier on this month. Again we managed to win comfortably by 2 goals to nil, Tiote getting his first for the club in the opening minute and Rantie reaffirming the lead in the second half.
The final match of September saw us take on Ajax Cape Town again, but this time in the ACL semi final first leg at the Cape Town Stadium. If we could nick an away goal here I'd be ecstatic, even a 1-1 draw would be a good result for us, but after we beat them convincingly just a week ago, I'm expecting us to win.
And win is exactly what we did. A first half strike by winger Morena was enough to seal an extremely important win in the first leg, meaning we potentially had what was almost a 2 goal advantage heading into the second leg with it being an away goal which sealed the win for us. I was delighted with the win and was becoming increasingly confident of us booking a place in the ACL final for the first time.
Next month we'd face Ajax Cape Town in the ACL semi final 2nd leg, as well as starting the South African Knockout Cup against Sundowns who we'd been drawn against in the first round. League matters would also continue with the first match of the month against our other bitter rivals Swallows.
October, the month where our dreams could come true. We faced an all important ACL semi final 2nd leg with an away goal lead intact and were hoping to continue our 100% start to the league campaign.
The month began with what was again, extremely welcome news.
I'd been awarded the manager of the month for the second successive month and dedicated this one to my players who'd performed magnificently over September.
Back to the matters at hand though, and our first game of the month was against bitter Soweto rivals Swallows.
To be completely honest, we were shocking for the whole game. I'm not too sure how we even managed to score 2 in the first half. Our defence just couldn't handle Mhango upfront and he had a first half hat-rick to his name before we had chance to stop him. He was unplayable and thoroughly deserved to be on the winning side, which meant our 100% record came to an extremely abrupt halt.
It was not great preparation for our semi final second leg against Ajax Cape Town, but we were in a commanding position going into it.
Luckily we managed to dispose of them quite easily with an impressive 3-1 win meaning we'd gotten to our first ACL final under me. I was extremely happy with the lads who'd been told at the start of the season that this one was for Siphiwe and they'd taken heed, hopefully we can manage to go one step further and win it for him!
Our final opponents would be ES Sahel of Tunisia. We'd never played against Sahel so it would be a brand new test for us, but one I knew we could overcome if we carried on playing the way we had been.
After the euphoria of winning the semi, we had to knuckle down and concentrate on domestic matters and after losing for the first time in the league last week we had to get back to winning ways against AmaZulu away from home.
Which we did incidentally with a 3-0 win thanks to goals from Mhirsi, Manqele and Evans on another return from injury. Next up was the aforementioned South African Knockout Cup tie against the Sundowns.
I'm afraid again that we just didn't turn up for this one and the scoreline flatters us. We were outplayed from the first whistle and despite the shot count going in our favour, Jomo were much the better team meaning we ended the month on a bit of a low in league terms but still top of the pile by 4 points.
In what was a defining month for not only myself but for the club, we entered November knowing we could become champions of Africa.
In fact, the first game of this hectic month for all involved was the first leg of the ACL final against ES Sahel in Tunisia. We took a full strength side to the North African country and hoped we could overturn the odds and do what we set out to achieve at the start of the season, win the African Champions League.
In what was an incredible first leg, we managed to beat the Tunisians 4-0 away from home meaning we had effectively a 5 goal advantage due to the away goals rule to take back to Soccer City. In all honesty, I couldn't quite believe my eyes when we went in at half time 3-0 up thanks to goals from Kaizer legend Bernard Parker, Idriss Mhirsi, who incidentally was aiming to win the Champions League for the second time in 2 years with 2 different clubs, and Thapelo Morena. We absolutely dominated the second half too and Mhirsi grabbed his second after 68 minutes to complete the rout. I was bursting with pride for my boys and I just hoped the feat could be repeated in front of our adoring fans back home in the second leg. Surely we couldn't lose this now... could we?
After the elation of the first leg, we were still in the SA KO Cup, which had it's quarter final draw following our first round win against Sundowns. We would face AmaZulu away from home in the quarters after coming out of the hat second.
Back to matters in the league, our next game was against reigning champions the Black Aces. After suffering a defeat in our last league match against Jomo Cosmos, it was imperative that we got back to winning ways, although this was definitely going to be an awkward test.
And so it proved with us coming up short in a 2-1 defeat, our third loss in 4 league matches. Our cause wasn't helped with Cheick Tiote getting himself booked for 2 poor challenges and receiving his marching orders whilst the 2nd half was still young. This meant he picked up a 1 game ban in the league.
None of this was good preparation for what was the biggest match in the Kaizer Chiefs' history, the second leg of the ACL final. We welcome Sahel to Soccer City with a bumper crowd of over 100 thousand fans and whilst we may have had a 4 away goal advantage, we were taking nothing for granted.
In a touching moment before the game, club legend Siphiwe Tshabalala and Sahel icon Yassine Chikhaiou both brought the ACL trophy onto the pitch in between the 2 sets of players when the national anthem of both countries was sung. It was a touching moment for Siphiwe, especially as he'd never had the chance to play for this trophy himself. We had made it our mission this year to make sure we won this ACL for him following his unfortunate retirement and we were halfway there. The game soon got underway and low and behold....
We were outstanding, again, and won the game by 3 goals to nil in front of our incredible fans and were now the Champions of Africa! It was an incredible achievement and one that we had worked so hard over the past 3 years to win, for it to actually all come together was some feeling. I congratulated my players one by one and thanked them for their courage and support during this fantastic campaign and let them basque in their achievement. I wanted the players to lift the trophy themselves, as a squad, but captain Khune made me get up on the hastily put together stage in the middle of the pitch to help lift the trophy aloft. The team celebrated as a squad deep into the night, as far as I'm aware anyway. But I had decided that once each leg of my own personal Pentagon Challenge had been completed, I would immediately step down as manager to persue another continent's top prize.
So, I was now unemployed and looking for another team in another country to try and conquer that continent. I feel it's too early to try and step into Europe, despite many approaches in the first few days of my unemployment, I decided to wait until there were some better options in the likes of Asia or either North/South America to look out for before entering Europe. But with Africa conquered, it's one down, 4 to go...
The likes of WBA, QPR, Sampdoria, Wolfsburg all offered jobs after interviews in a short space of time, that was when I decided it was too early to venture into Europe and try to raise my stock elsewhere first.
