Pirates’ Riveiro – the club knows what they are doing

Outgoing Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro has assured the club’s fans that the Buccaneers still have a bright future even without him at the helm.

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Earlier in April, Pirates made a shock announcement that Riveiro will leave the club at the end of the season following the expiry of his contract.

Pirates surprise

The announcement not only caught many by surprise, but brought some anxiety to the club’s faithful with many thinking that Pirates will struggle when the Spaniard is gone.

However, speaking after his side’s hard-fought 2-1 win over Golden Arrows at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Tuesday night, Riveiro said he and his technical team have created a platform for the next Pirates coach to succeed.

“I’ve answered this question many, many times. This is a club project, not a Riveiro project,” said Riveiro.

“The club knows what they are doing. And whoever is coming is going to be the right person and will have the support and will find himself in a good platform to continue where we’re going to stop at the end of the season.

“Football is a cycle and Orlando Pirates is a huge institution; so nothing is going to change because Riveiro is out.

“The Buccaneers don’t need to be concerned about that because the future is brilliant for the club, and it’s gonna be alright,” added the Spaniard.

Riveiro has done very well since joining Pirates in 2022, winning five trophies – three MTN8 titles and two Nedbank Cups.

He still has a chance to add to his trophy collection when his side faces Soweto rivals Kaizer Chiefs in the Nedbank Cup final at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Riveiro hailed the club’s squad depth after he rested some of his regular players for the final and made seven changes to his starting line-up but still managed to beat Arrows away in Durban on Tuesday.

‘Clear proof’

“I am not going to lie, we prepared for the Arrows game with our eyes on the final. We have to play two games this week and have three days in between them, so we had to try to manage our players.

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“Today (Tuesday), it was time for players like Radio (Boitumelo Radiopane), Yanga Madiba, Karim Kimvuidi to play for the first time in the starting eleven. It was the second game for Melusi (Buthelezi). It’s clear proof that we have interesting depth in our squad.”