Chiefs’ coach sacking spree has cost the club almost R60 million

Kaizer Chiefs have, in the past few seasons, followed in Chippa United’s footsteps by firing and hiring coaches at a whim.

Since 2015, no coach has seen their contract through at Amakhosi, and this has been a costly exercise for the team.

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Steve Komphela lasted the longest and was only fired with just a month left on his contract on 22 April 2018. This was after the supporters rioted and destroyed property at Moses Mabhida Stadium following their Nedbank Cup semifinal loss to Free State Stars.

Komphela was replaced by Giovanni Solinas the following season. He was handed a three-year deal but only lasted five months before he was fired. This was after the club realised that they may have made the wrong call. 

Ernst Middendorp came in for his second stint at Naturena, also with a three-year contract. Like his predecessors Middendorp was also fired after complaints from the supporters about the kind of football the team was playing. He was at the helm for a year-and-a-half, even though he took the side to within an inch of the DStv Premiership title, losing out to Sundowns on the final day of the campaign.

Gavin Hunt was next, also on a three-year deal. He lasted for eight months before he was fired after a fallout with the club’s management. Stuart Baxter is the latest sacking in the Amakhosi coaching merry-go-round. 

Having coached the side successfully in his first stint between 2012 and 2015, he was seen as the knight in shining armour the club had been looking for. But besides a promising start, he also had a fallout with the management and was released after the supporters also voiced their concerns and called for his head. 

He was in the job for nine months when he was fired. He had also come in on a three-year contract.  

For all these coaches they fired, Chiefs had to pay a settlement fee or like in the case of Gavin Hunt, pay the entire contract fee. An insider claims that Hunt was paid around R15-million as his settlement.  

“I am not entirely sure about the others, but Hunt’s contract was watertight and he has to be bought out. That means the club had to pay him for the remaining months on his deal when they terminated,” said the insider who asked that he not be named for fear of reprisals.

Based on this, Chiefs have lost up to R60-million on settlement fees for terminating coaches’ contracts prematurely. With the exception of Komphela, who was on the last three months of his deal, the other five coaches – including Patrick Mabedi who was an assistant to Solinas and was fired along with him – had to be paid hefty amounts in settlements. 

The insider claims that this hire-fire drill is likely to continue at Chiefs unless the different units within the club can find a coach they all mutually agree on and like. 

“There is the marketing unit who have the club’s image to protect and they are very specific about the kind of coach the club can work with. They have input on who gets the job of guiding the team,” he says 

“They don’t want a coach who is not ‘marketable’. They are often at loggerheads with the football unit over coaches. Even with Stuart Baxter, before he was fired there was a lot of negotiation because others still wanted him to stay while others wanted him gone. 

“The financials of his firing were also considered on the matter because it would be costly especially because the team was not doing so badly but there were other elements that they were not happy with,” he says. 

With what the club is believed to make from sponsorships and other revenue avenues like merchandise sales, they can afford to pay the coaches when they terminate. It is, however, a wasteful expenditure if they are to do it every season. 

Amakhosi are, meanwhile, expected to soon name their next coach who will replace Baxter. Arthur Zwane is said to be among the favourites for the job. He is currently doing it as a stand-in and is involved in identifying the players the team will need to beef up with next season.