Booth: Riveiro deserves a chance to show what he can do at Pirates

The lukewarm reception for new Orlando Pirates head coach José Riveiro immediately puts him under the spotlight and under pressure to hit the ground running at the Buccaneers.

Former Bafana Bafana defender Matthew Booth says the Spanish-born mentor needs to be given some space to display what he is capable of.

Riveiro becomes the third relatively unknown foreign coach to have emerged at the Bucs in recent seasons, following in the footsteps of Kjell Jonvevret and Jozef Zinnbauer.

“Time will tell,” says Booth on whether Pirates set a foot in the wrong direction by appointing a coach whose credentials in South African football are unknown.

“We will see what his strong points are and what his weaknesses are when we see him working. We will see with the type of substitutes that he makes early on in the season and we have to wait and see what type of manager he is. Does he get on with the players or not? At the moment, we know very little about him.”

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Last season, the Happy People finished sixth in the DStv Premiership, and had less then impressive runs in the MTN8 and Nedbank Cup, leaving their fans disappointed in their domestic showing, while the Buccaneers also lost the Caf Confederation Cup final to RS Berkane.

“Over the past three seasons I thought Pirates were going to challenge Sundowns. They have been a bit disappointing towards the end of last season and unfortunately it seems they have pushed the reset button again from a coaching and playing point of view,” added Booth.

“I hope that they are able to hit the ground running because we need a strong Kaizer Chiefs and Pirates for this league to be vibrant again.”