Kaizer Chiefs’ legendary former goalkeeper Joseph ‘Banks’ Setlhodi believes the club’s problems go far deeper than the coaching, stating even Pitso Mosimane can’t succeed with the current squad and leadership.
The reigning Nedbank Cup champions officially clarified their coaching situation following the exit of head coach Nasreddine Nabi last month. The Tunisian mentor, whose departure had been shrouded in uncertainty, initially walked away on 17 September.
This move reportedly followed a threat of suspension over coaching qualifications. At the time, Chiefs only issued a cryptic statement confirming that Nabi was “not with the team” and that the matter was being handled “internally.”
On Friday, the club finally ended the speculation, officially announcing they had parted ways with Nabi. In the same announcement, the club confirmed that Khalil Ben Youssef and Cedric Kaze will step up to lead the technical team for the remainder of the 2025/26 season as interim co-coaches, tasked with steadying the ship.
But five matches later, results remain mixed: one win, two draws, and two defeats. Chiefs squeezed into the CAF Confederation Cup preliminary second-round qualifiers when they lost to Angola’s Kabuscorp 1-0 in the first, then won the return leg by the same margin and sneaked through on penalties.
In the Betway Premiership, things haven’t been much better. Amakhosi drew 1-1 with both Marumo Gallants and AmaZulu, before crashing out of the Carling Knockout Cup Last 16 to Stellenbosch FC on penalties after a goalless 120 minutes.
FORMER KAIZER CHIEFS GOALKEEPER JOSEPH SETLHODI PLEADS FOR CHANGE
In an interview with FARPost, Setlhodi says supporters should dump the next coach talk and start asking about the players instead.
“Before you talk about coaches, let’s talk about the players,” he said. “You can bring 20 coaches to Chiefs, from the best in the world, the results won’t change.
Chiefs lack good footballers. That is the problem. The coach does not win the game; it is the players that win the game. The coach only directs.”
Setlhodi didn’t hold back on the club’s leadership either: “If you are blind and leading a nation, that nation will fail because you see nothing. I don’t think Kaizer Chiefs have good leaders to address what is happening. Everybody can see where the problem is at Chiefs. They don’t fix the problems. The question is, why? Why.”
With sections of the fanbase begging for Mosimane to move to Naturena, Setlhodi rejected the idea, saying the club’s structure would drive him away.
“Pitso would not stay at Chiefs. You know why? Because Chiefs don’t have good leaders, they don’t know how to address football matters. They think football is just business; you just go to the office and stay there. Football is something else,” Banks said with pain in his voice.
“If Pitso goes to Chiefs, he will demand players. If they don’t give him what he needs, he will leave. Pitso won’t want to work with average players. You can’t have players earning R50 000 but still need to be taught how to trap the ball,” he concluded.
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