Cavin Johnson, Kaizer Chiefs and an ‘interim,’ never-ending malaise

Given how Kaizer Chiefs’ season is going, it seems unlikely to impossible that Cavin Johnson will stay on as head coach beyond the end of the current campaign.

Johnson put his future “in the hands of the almighty,” after Amakhosi had failed to fire in front of goal for the umpteenth time this season in Saturday’s goalless DStv Premiership draw with Cape Town City.

I guess leaving your fate up to G-d is better than leaving it in the feet of your strikers, when Amakhosi’s arsenal of attackers so often seem completely devoid of bullets. The Lord aside, It’s hard to pinpoint exactly where the fault actually lies in terms of Chiefs and another season without a trophy.

Johnson could have blamed a lack of a pre-season in the first couple of months of his tenure, taking over from Molefi Ntseki only towards the end of October. But the Africa Cup of Nations finals, with just one Chiefs player on international duty, afforded him a full month to work with his squad, while Chiefs also had time to work on their finishing after an early exit from the Nedbank Cup was followed by another international break in March.

As blunt as ever

Yet on the other side of both of those breaks, Chiefs returned as blunt as ever, making one wonder exactly what they were working on in training. Johnson’s post match statements do seem to be getting increasingly separated from the truth – claiming Chiefs deserved to beat Cape Town City was at best optimistic and at worst just nonsense from a man who seems to have run out of excuses.

Johnson has also denied there is such a thing as an interim head coach, but by naming him such, Chiefs have surely created a situation where, even subconsciously, Johnson is not that attached to the job, while the players, even unintentionally, have no reason to be attached to Johnson.

All of this leaves Chiefs going absolutely nowhere, though that, ultimately, also has little to do with Johnson or his players. Chiefs’ malaise is so deep-set, over such a number of years, that it is hard to see how they will ever get out of it.