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By Tshepo Ntsoelengoe

Football Journalist


Micho’s departure left Pirates fans reeling with disbelief

I think sometimes some people tend to take football fans for granted and never really consider their feelings when they take some decisions.


The hurt and betrayal that football lovers have to take and digest, when their favourite teams, players and coaches disappoint them, is quite difficult to describe.

These people invest a lot in football by buying their respective club merchandise, travelling to stadiums and follow everything about their teams.

Entlek, let me not beat around the bush and go straight to my initial subject which in this case is the sudden, most shocking and most hurtful resignation of Micho Sredojevic as Orlando Pirates coach to the club’s fans.

Earlier this week, I was on queue in Shoptite and I overheard a conversation between a security guard at the store and the manager of the store after noticing the tag.

From what I heard, both guys are staunch supporters of Orlando Pirates and one could have easily realised upon hearing some of the things they spoke about,  like Rulani Mokwena said earlier this week, their blood is black and white.

But what really caught my attention was the anger and disappointment that came from their tone when they spoke about Micho, who joined Egyptian side Zamalek after leaving Pirates.

These guys really believed that Micho was going to deliver trophies at the club despite starting the season on a bad note. Thing is, Micho assured the supporters that he is a fan of Pirates before everything else, and that alone made them believe in him so much that the previous two seasons without winning a  trophy wasn’t really a huge deal for them because they thought the 2019/2020 season is their year.

As they continued speaking, the final words were “Re tla mo thola ka Caf Champions League ha batlo dlala le rona (Pirates) or Mamelodi Sundowns. Ga tlo tswa ka gate ya stadium a so re chaele why a vaile (We will get him during the Caf Champions League when they play us or Mamelodi Sundowns. He won’t get out of the stadium until he gives us answers to why he resigned.)

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