Gavin Hunt reveals why his short-lived Kaizer Chiefs tenure was doomed from the start

SuperSport United head coach Gavin Hunt has opened up about what went wrong during his short-lived tenure as Kaizer Chiefs boss.

Hunt, who recently celebrated his 1000th match as a head coach, moved to Kaizer Chiefs during the 2020/21 season with one of the most impressive CVs in the history of South African football.

Throughout his illustrious coaching career, he won four league titles – three at SuperSport United and one with Bidvest Wits – plus a number of Cup titles. He was seen as the perfect choice to make the Sowetan giants great again.

But when he arrived at Naturena, the club started to struggle. Having challenged for the title during the Covid-19-interrupted season, Chiefs were way off the pace with Hunt in charge. In May of 2021, the club decided to end the partnership, and the former Hellenic right back was shown the door.

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“… For me, it was the wrong time, the wrong place. It was a forced move. It was during Covid and Wits had just been sold, and I was the only one without a job after the players were bought by different clubs at the end of the season,” Hunt was quoted by iDiski Times.

“I was like okay here we go. I am going to take some time out, but I don’t want some time out. Then I got a phone call, and they said ‘listen, this is what’s happening. We’ve got a FIFA ban; we can’t sign any player’.

“I said to them the team needs an overhaul and if you allow me to do it then it’s the right project for me. They said ‘perfect’. We agreed, ’let’s get through this year’ and when I looked at it, it was clear the team was really done.”

Hunt expressed his disappointment that he was not listened to by club bosses, and was not given an opportunity to build his own team.

“That was disappointing. But no bad vibes and no bad feelings. I was just disappointed I never had a chance to build a team of my own. That wasn’t my team that I coached at Chiefs. It was Ernst Middendorp’s team, which needed rebuilding, and they promised me we were going to do it, but we never did, and I faced the brunt and with two games to go.”

IOL Sport