Kaizer Chiefs defender Njabulo Ngcobo has apologised to his teammates and technical team following Wednesday’s outburst during the league tie against Golden Arrows in Durban.
The former Swallows defender made headlines after the midweek encounter when cameras captured him, ignoring interim coach Arthur Zwane’s handshake when he substituted him. Ngcobo, whose costly mistake handed Arrows the equaliser in the first half, then had an off-field spat with Lee Baxter.
A sympathetic Zwane revealed that the reigning defender of the season had shown remorse after the game and apologised on Thursday morning.
“With Njabulo, it was the heat of the moment; I don’t think he did that intentionally. He was just very upset at himself because he made a mistake that ended up being a goal that we conceded and brought Arrows back to the game.
“As his coach, it would be unfair to crucify him and not help him, I was a player myself, and I’ve made mistakes, and I was given an opportunity, and I learnt from those mistakes. Njabulo is in a similar situation; he needs us, he needs his teammates.
“He has apologised this morning [Thursday] because he’s back to his senses. You could even see after the game yesterday [Wednesday] that he was remorseful and realised the damage was bigger than he thought. We are here not to judge but to help our players to be better,” Zwane said.
The former Chiefs winger, Zwane, singled out Ngcobo, who joined the club earlier this season, as “one of the best players” they have in the Amakhosi squad.
Zwane, who featured for the Soweto giants between 2000 and 2010, said if it were back in the day, Ngcobo would have gotten away with the spat. But with the advent of social media, occurrences like that tend to spread quickly.
“In the past, you could do something like what happened yesterday, and you could easily get away with it because it was not going to be blown out of proportion. Look at the situation with Njabulo right now; you’re thinking about his mental state. Is he going to be ready for the next one? It’s not about what has happened; it’s about what we want to do and achieve going forward.”
Chiefs host Cape Town City at the FNB Stadium on Saturday and will be hoping to bounce back to winning ways after losing three successive games.
