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By Sibongiseni Gumbi

Football Writer


Hunt was just singing for Parker’s supper, saying he was the best player in derby

Gavin Hunt can be unpredictable and will prove to be a handful, if not already, for Kaizer Chiefs’ meticulous branding and communications department.


That department which also encompasses marketing which is headed by Jessica Motaung, is very brand conscious and anything that looks to be against the club’s image is frown upon. Hunt – and I like him for this and hope he doesn’t change – can be coy sometimes in his interviews, and sometimes he can just be too frank. I found a few comments he made after he derby win at the weekend that will probably not sit well with the said department. Firstly, he said he didn’t have anyone on the bench he could make substitutions with. This was while…

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That department which also encompasses marketing which is headed by Jessica Motaung, is very brand conscious and anything that looks to be against the club’s image is frown upon.

Hunt – and I like him for this and hope he doesn’t change – can be coy sometimes in his interviews, and sometimes he can just be too frank.

I found a few comments he made after he derby win at the weekend that will probably not sit well with the said department.

Firstly, he said he didn’t have anyone on the bench he could make substitutions with. This was while the likes of Willard Katsande, Kgotso Moleko and Philani Zulu were among those on the bench which had mostly youngsters.

Well, it is an open secret that the above mentioned players are on their way out of Naturena, you may argue, so Hunt doesn’t really need to nurse their egos.

But it is not the way the club would want to part with these stalwarts. What Hunt did was just telling them to f*** off.

And then there was the issue about his indifference with Samir Nurkovic’s wonder goal.

I felt he was playing politics when he ignored Nurkovic’s action figure like heroics to save Amakhosi from an embarrassing fourth defeat in a row in the derby, yet praise Bernard Parker like he was a combination of Messi and Ronaldo pit together onto one player.

Hunt dismissed the celebrated overhead kick – which making waves on social media – as just ‘a typical striker’s goal’.

He then changed the tone and praised Parker’s excellence. While Parker was supposed to play the anchor role in the team, he was given some freedom while Nkosingiphile Ngcobo who usually plays that free role in midfield, was stifled and couldn’t produce the magic he is known for.

We have heard and the Phakaaathi Mgosi Squad has previously reported that Hunt wants to keep Parker while management want to release him when they do the massive clearance expected at the end of the season.

So in a way, Hunt was singing for the veteran midfielder-cum-striker player when he sang his praises when he wasn’t even man of the match.

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