Contrasting cases of two soccer coaches

The reaction to the way two of Mzansi’s biggest football clubs go about their business have over the past week were in such stark contrast that you can hardly believe they compete in the same league.

Jaco van der Merwe.

On the one hand we experienced the Kaizer Chiefs faithful seeing the appointment of Rob Hutting as technical advisor as a foregone conclusion that the Dutchman will take over the reins from the embattled Steve Komphela.

Whether it be in two weeks, two months or at the end of the season the new man is primed to take over the reins, the popular belief of appointing someone in that capacity seems to convince the fans the writing is on the wall for the current coach and the Amakhosi diehards are not prepared to listen to any excuse Bobby Motaung is dishing out.

Further north we had Sundowns announcing the appointment of Swede Erik Hamsen as their technical director. But taken incumbent coach Pitso Mosimane’s stature into account, this didn’t even raise an eyebrow.

Just how wide is the gap between these two clubs?

You see, we all know Komphela has had a barren spell at Naturena, but this Hutting character’s credentials leaves a lot to be desired at face value.

The thing that blows my mind is that the man doesn’t have a Wikipedia page. Seriously? We are living in 2018 and a supposed experienced European coach doesn’t have a Wikipedia page.

This can mean one of two things: He is either computer-illiterate or he doesn’t have anything to put on a page.

Fair enough, not all 62-year-olds are clued up technically so I’ll let it slide on that one, which means the latter is more accurate, I would strongly suspect.

Which is sad.

At his age, you would have expected to see a coaching career that probably started somewhere at a club in the Netherlands, a spell here and there in Europe and some serious time at a big Dutch clubs in whatever capacity.

Even with their national side. But no, all we know about the Dutchman is what Chiefs told us about him. Apparently he is experienced as far as development goes.

Even if Komphela is sadly deprived of any silverware during his coaching career, at least he boasts a record of having been around at the top level in local circles for far over a decade. He shouldn’t actually feel threatened by the Dutchman at all.

If anybody has reason to panic, it should actually be Mosimane.

Unlike Hutting, Hamren is what we can call a heavyweight … with a Wikipedia page.

A very impressive one actually.

Following very successful clubs stints in Norway and Denmark, he was the Swedish national coach for seven years, qualifying them for two European Championships.

But the difference is that Pitso is a winner too.

He has won the league twice and is sitting top of the table as we speak, and of course has won the Champions League which led to him being named African Coach-of-the-Year.

One champion working with another will go a long way in ensuring success.

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