Jose Riveiro: All you need to know about Pirates’ new head coach

When Orlando Pirates announced Spaniard Jose Riveiro as their new head coach on Saturday, it was another bolt from the blue from the Buccaneers, and it would have been forgivable if Pirates fans around the world had responded with one word – ‘Who?’.

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The 46 year-old belongs in the school of Josef Zinnbauer, Kjell Jonevret, Kosta Papic and Jean-Yves Kerjean as a coach pulled from obscurity by chairman Irvin Khoza to take the hotseat at Pirates.

Riveiro, born in Vigo, grew up a season ticket holder at La Liga side Celta Vigo, but played only in the the Spanish third division, and frankly admits he was not that good, ending his playing career in his twenties.

“I wasn’t a good player. Gran Peña played in the Spanish third level. I realized I wasn’t going to be good no matter how much work I did,” said Riveiro in a frank interview in 2019 with Ilta Sanomat.

He started his coaching career in the lower leagues in Spain before moving to Finland in 2014, to be an assistant coach at Honka FC, though that wasn’t an easy transition, particularly as Riveiro was afraid of flying. Presumably this has changed as he makes his move to Johannesburg.

The journey from Spain to Finland included a lengthy bus trip from Vigo to Hamburg in Germany.

“It was the worst decision of my life. 38 hours on one bus. Horrible experience,” said Riveiro.

In Finland, Riveiro worked as an assistant coach at Honka in the Finnish Premier League, as well as at PK-35 Vantaa and HJK Helsinki (where he did win two Premier League titles), before he landed his first head coach role in 2018 with Inter Turku.

He guided Inter to second in the Finnish Premier League two seasons in a row, but finished eighth in his third season, and was replaced for the 2022 campaign.

Riveiro’s comments on turning Turku’s fortunes around in those early days may well resonate with Pirates fans.

“Inter Turku had been a bit lost for a few years despite having a lot of potential and one of the best budgets in the League. The challenge in this first year was to change everyone’s mentality and undertake a series of readjustments. The main thing was to build an attractive team to attract people to the stadium and, little by little, we are achieving it,” he told Marca in 2019.

“Our first objective was to create an attractive team to attract people and, little by little, we are achieving it.”

“I I would like to return to Spain if a good opportunity arises, but I wouldn’t mind staying abroad and getting to know other football, other languages… I would like to add new experience,” added Riveiro, who has now chosen to come to Johannesburg.

His move will probably be greeted with scepticism in many quarters, but that will soon be forgotten if he can bring Pirates back to the top table – the Buccaneers are trophy-starved, having won just one trophy (the 2020 MTN8) in the last eight seasons.