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Titanic Pirates ship may be too hard for co-coaches to steer
Pressure is certainly brewing for co-coaches Ncikazi and Davids as the Bucs fans are not having it.
Orlando Pirates players dejected following their Nedbank Cup quarter final loss to Marumo Gallant on Wednesday night. Picture: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix
Maybe and just maybe, the departure of Josef Zinnbauer might have been a terrible mistake by the Orlando Pirates management looking at the way things are currently going at the club and it seems like co-coaches Mandla Ncikazi and Fadlu Davids are finding it hard to sail the Bucs ship.
After all, Zinnbauer left the Buccaneers having managed to bring some silverware to the team by winning the MTN8 in 2020, six years after the club last won a trophy.
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The German was certainly not the most loved coach by most of the Bucs supporters, but he did really have his admirers, who saw the greatness in him. I remember the Pirates’ run in their way to clinching the MTN8, and how brutal they were during that tournament. Especially the semi-final meeting against rivals Kaizer Chiefs, where Bucs registered a 5-0 aggregate victory over their nemesis.
This is something that two coaches have not been able to do, as they twice lost to Amakhosi already this season, a team Pirates fans don’t want to lose to.
There is definitely a lot of pressure brewing for Ncikazi and Davids and the fans are not having it with the way things have been unfolding. And more recently, losing their tie against Marumo Gallants in the last 16 round of the Nedbank Cup.
To be quite honest, the Ke Yona Cup was ideally the best possible chance for Pirates to lift some silverware this season with the race for the league title seeing Mamelodi Sundowns running with it. They also lost out on the MTN8 and the Caf Confederation Cup should just well be a dream to go on and lift that title looking at the inconsistency of the club.
Yeah, sure Pirates managed to reach the quarter-finals of the very same tournament last campaign. But things are different at the club now and there are lots of changes in their squad while the question of Gabadinho Mhango’s omission remains to be a big talking point, someone the club’s fans believe he is capable of solving their scoring problems.
With the way things are, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Pirates hire a new coach next season, things are just that bad, something that was unexpected looking at the investment they made in terms of getting quality players over the years.
