Bobby calls on Chiefs fans to rally behind team

Perseverance breeds success. That is what Kaizer Chiefs manager Bobby Motaung (right) believes in.

Motaung – who has a love-hate relationship with Amakhosi fans who feel he is too stingy and buys cheap players – told the Saturday Citizen that the reason they didn’t panic when things were not going well for the team was that they knew it would end sooner than anyone expected.

“We always knew what the challenges were and what needed to be done for things to go back to normal,” said Motaung this week as Amakhosi unveiled their new vehicle partnership with Toyota.

The 46-year-old manager will hope the team can go on and win at least one piece of silverware this season to avoid the shame of finishing a third successive futile campaign.

The supporters are already running out of patience and made calls for the axing of coach, Steve Komphela earlier this season and were unhappy that the club signed just one unknown player in January.

Motaung also revealed that he has had to grow a thick skin and take the criticism he faces – as undeserved as it may be sometimes – in his stride.

He called on the supporters to rally behind the team especially in bad times because that is when they are needed the most.

Things are going well now for the Glamour Boys, and the tough times the team went through earlier this season are slowly becoming a distant memory for the supporters.

The Naturena-based side have gone on a four-match winning streak in the Absa Premiership and go into tonight’s match against Maritzburg United as firm favourites to clinch full points.

The match is set for a 8.15pm kick-off at the Harry Gwala Stadium.

The Soweto giants played their part when they put struggling Free State Stars to the sword with a 3-1 beating on Tuesday to continue their steady climb.

But Maritzburg could be the team who put the spanner in the works and end Steve Komphela’s good run.

In recent years, matches between Chiefs and the Team of Choice have turned out to be exciting encounters and tonight’s game is expected to follow the same trend.