EXCLUSIVE: Kaizer Motaung Junior hangs up his boots: but is this son of a legend the future of South African football?

Runs in the family: Kaizer Motaung Junior

Kaizer Motaung Junior is NOT going to rely on his surname to secure a future for himself in South African football.


In his first full interview since he retired from the game this week, the 32-year-old opened his heart on my football show BOLLOCKZ! on www.ballz.co.za, insisting: "It's no good having the right surname if you haven't got the right qualifications.

"Just like it was on the football field, I have to fight for my place at Kaizer Chiefs, for my future. I want to get my degree, it was always difficult studying and playing, I want to put something back in the game."

Motaung, whose father set up South Africa's biggest footballing franchise Kaizer Chiefs after a glittering career in the USA in the early 1970s, will link up with his sister Jessica to ensure the future of the brand - and could even find himself playing a role for the troubled South African Football Association in the very near future.

All-rounder Kaizer also spoke fondly about his years as a cricketer at St John's in Johannesburg and Harrow School west of London, recalling: "I opened the batting with Nick Compton - who now plays for Middlesex and England - for Harrow against Eton at Lord's (here's what I wrote at the time http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/91194.html) in 2000.

"I was in the first team for two years, but the first time our traditional historic game first played in 1805) between the old private schools was called off because of rain. That was a disaster.

"It was such a big thing to go out and bat at Lord's. My dad Kaizer and the whole family turned up. Okay, I got a duck that day but I did get a century or two in the UK!

"I also grew up playing against Proteas captain Graeme Smith, who was at King Edward School. And yes, it's true, Ali Bacher wanted me to play for the Proteas, but football was my priority.

"I even spent time at the Chelsea academy when John Terry was around in the 90s, it was fabulous to be there."

Motaung, who played over 100 games for Chiefs and 22 times for 1860 Munich, paid tribute to former international referee David Elleray, his housemaster at Harrow, but accepts:  "Now I must bow out - perhaps I'll play a bit of five-a-side, golf, cricket. But now it's about what I can achieve off the field. And about my family. Being a dad is a full-time job too!

"I have many plans, business and football, that I must put in place.

"I just have to say it's such a privilege to be part of Kaizer Chiefs, the team my dad started, winning the league last year - then going nine games unbeaten after a rock start this season.

"Polokwane last night was magnificent. A full house at the Peter Mokabe. What a pleasure."





The Ballz link is here: http://www.ballz.co.za/bollockz-neal-collins/kaizer-motaung-talks-to-neal-collins/3272

BOLLOCKZ! my innovative football show on www.ballz.co.za airs every Thursday from 9am-11am. See Ballz' channel for our growing library of fascinating football interviews with the big names. 

You can also follow me on www.twitter.com/nealcol for all the latest sports news… and read my “Neal & Pray” column every Tuesday in www.thenewage.co.za.

BOLLOCKZ! is backed by www.topodds.com - have a look at their site for my latest sports betting advice and charity bets for our Wingzofchange charity!

How Cavin Johnson outwitted Stuart Baxter's towering champions PLUS an analysis of Kaizer Chiefs last 10 PSL games

TOP DOGS: SuperSport captain Thabo September
and  head coach Cavin Johson after Saturday's
"shock" 3-1 victory over champions Kaizer Chiefs

CAVIN JOHNSON has a knack of surprising us. While Kaizer Chiefs and the entire football-speaking nation were expecting the Senegalese giant Mame Niang to lead the line for SuperSport United on Saturday, Johnson confounded us all with the biggest tactical gamble I’ve seen in years.

The mighty double-winning AmaKhosi emerged at the Lucas Moripe stadium with THREE towering centre halves – Morgan Gould, Mulomowandau Mathoho and Tefu Mashamaite – to be greeted by a grinning Bradley Grobler.

Niang, the 1.94m scourge of centre-backs around the nation, is 11cm taller than the 1.83m Grobler. But that small sliver of apart height was enough to change the entire complexion of a vital early-season encounter.

The ploy looked like backfiring when Chiefs went ahead through their now-traditional penalty from Bernard Parker but an Enocent Mkhabela scorcher followed by goals from Bennett Chenene and a Grobler penalty secured a “shock” 3-1 win.

A dejected Gould tweeted: “Bad day at the office for us,” while Grobler responded after his first start of the season: “Yes please, top performance. Back to the top of the league!”

The outstanding Thabo September raved: “What a team performance, well done Mkhabela for an outstanding game @SuperSportFC mission #3pts accomplished!! God is awesome.”

Johnson, who took Platinum Stars to a stunning runners-up spot in the PSL last season, told me on Monday: “I just thought we needed to make a change. Stuart Baxter knows all about Niang’s height, how he wins everything in the air. So we started with Bradley. Mame was fit. It was just a tactical change.

“We struggled in the first half, we weren't playing the right way. But at half-time we had a big chat. I told them to play it on the carpet. It worked.”

“I started thinking about the change immediately after Wednesday's win over AmaTuks. Will I play Grobler and Niang together in our next game against Aces? Are there no secrets in football Neal?

“So far so good. I’ve got to say I’m enjoying life at SuperSport at the moment. I really enjoyed it when Niang was the first person to hug Grobler after his penalty!”

A crestfallen Baxter – who has lost two and drawn one in his three PSL clashes with Johnson - said: “I warned them in the dressing-room we had to be ready for a second half revival. We paid for 20 minutes of madness.”

In truth, they paid for fielding "The Three Towers" against Grobler, who holds the ball up nicely and doesn't rely on aerial delivery to have an impact. Chiefs, over-cautious and failing to throw their full-backs forward, simply had no answer once SuperSport levelled.

Sadly, many AmaKhosi fans were looking at England’s transfer deadline day for a quick signing or two – perhaps they hadn’t realised the South African window closed on Friday. Any hope of emergency reinforcements is gone. And that could be critical for South Africa’s biggest club, who face African Champions League qualifying this season on top of defending their double.

The truth is of course, SuperSport’s victory was not a “shock” at all. Those watching closely have seen the Chiefs decline coming for some time – in fact it took a grim grip two months before they lifted their long-awaited PSL title last season. One rival PSL manager has been telling me since April how Chiefs are lacking depth and quality, how they desperately needed to make major signings - particularly in midfield.

Their summer-long lead had all but disappeared after a terrible run-in last season. The last seven games produced just one win and the AmaKhosi have just that unimpressive opening 1-0 victory against promoted Mpumalanga Black Aces so far this season.

A quick glance at the AmaKhosi’s last ten league games reveals form more worthy of mid-table strugglers than possible double champions.

KAIZER CHIEFS LAST TEN PSL GAMES

April 3: DREW 1-1 with Maritzburg United

April 6: DREW 0-0 with Golden Arrows

April 20: WON 3-1 against Moroka Swallows

April 28: DREW 0-0 with Platinum Star

May 1: LOST 3-1 to Ajax Cape Town

May 15: DREW 1-1 with SuperSport United

May 18: LOST 1-0 to AmaTuks

Aug 2: WON 1-0 against Mpumalanga Black Aces

Aug 27: DREW 1-1 with Moroka Swallows

Aug 31: LOST 3-1 to SuperSport United

So that’s TEN games, TWO wins, FIVE draws, THREE defeats. Just 11 points from a possible 30. Scored NINE, conceded 11. And that, AmaKhosi fans, is not championship form.

With the transfer window closed, Baxter’s dream start as the first foreign coach ever to win the PSL in his first season is already looking slightly historical, even hysterical.

Gareth Bale and the World Record transfer fee (thanks to BBC)

Whether it was he or Bobby Motaung who decided a loan deal for Knowledge Musona would be enough in the way of reinforcements, we don’t know. But Baxter did have this to say: “I think it's going to be a tighter league this year. So many teams have strengthened, invested money in their squads. People have new ambitions.”

The question is, with Musona suffering another clean sheet on Saturday: Where was Chiefs’ ambition in the transfer window?

Cavin Johnson will feature this week on BOLLOCKZ! my show on www.ballz.co.za, airs every Thursday from 10am-noon. 

You can also follow me on www.twitter.com/nealcol for all the latest sports news… and read my “Neal & Pray” column every Tuesday inwww.thenewage.co.za. 

BOLLOCKZ! is backed by www.topodds.com - have a look at their site for my latest sports betting advice!


And finally, after many requests (including one from SuperSport United captain Thabo September) here is the infamous Bundesliga own goal from SSU goalkeeper Rowen Fernandez (he was the first one to show me this himself, big ups for that!):

Revealed: Baxter to the Future for double-winning Kaizer Chiefs. Naturena Junior on the drawing board

No going Baxter: Chiefs double-winning coach Stuart

AFTER his "once upon a time" start, the Stuart Baxter fairy-tale is only just getting underway.

After a season which sees Sir Alex Ferguson bow out at 71 with the English Premier League title under his belt and Jupp Heynckes leave Bayern Munich at 68 with the Bundesliga and Champions League wrapped up, an end-of-era atmosphere pervades large swathes of football-speaking Europe.

But in South Africa, the 58-year-old Baxter from Wolverhampton will not be thrown to the wolves.

Last night, as he picked up Coach of the Season at the PSL awards, Baxter said: "There was pressure at Kaizer Chiefs, a big club without a trophy for so long. But it's been great.

"Thank you to the fans who stuck with the team, the chairman, who has been an inspiration. And to those people who don't get the credit, the people who cut the grass, wash the kit, make the food, we must thank them too."

With our initial misgivings about the former Bafana Bafana boss now firmly thrust aside by Kaizer Chiefs double success in an historic first season, minds were turning to the future of the AmaKhosi within hours of the gritty 1-0 extra-time Nedbank Cup success over SuperSport United.

The roars of the 51,200 at Moses Mabhida had barely died down when "Reclaiming the Glory" turned to "The Glory Continues" - with the Motaung family seeking to secure "Baxter to the future" success for South Africa’s biggest club, with a reputed 15million pilgrims turning the nation’s streets to miles of of black and gold smiles.

Baxter says: “I didn’t want to talk to much about the future until after the Cup final. But the plans are in place.

“Firstly, we have produced a CD which will go out to junior clubs around the country. This will explain how Kaizer Chiefs youngsters are formed, what the club expects, how a promising kid might play for the Amakhosi. We want to develop a Chiefs style of play, universally.

“Then we have the new academy all planned out. We will be breaking ground over the road from Naturena soon. Two pitches, an academy building. All the plans are in place, I'll send you an invite!”

In England, the Cliff is Liverpool’s hallowed production line, for Manchester United it’s Carrington. Arsenal have London Colney, Chelsea recently built an expensive facility at Cobham.

Now for Naturena Too. Baxter promises: “We have nutritionists to ensure our players – current and future – stick to the correct diet. It’s so important in modern football.

“Everybody needs a sports psychologist these days too. This is a top-ranked, professional football club. We will offer counselling and advice to our players, young and old. That is vital too.

“We have also put an academic programme in place with a local university. We want our players to learn, not just play football. That’s is the way ahead.

“I know there have been problems with academies in South Africa before (both Chiefs and Pirates junior set-ups have been disbanded due to age-cheating allegations) but we have to plan for the future.

“I said when I got here, development would be crucial. That I would involved myself in all aspects of Kaizer Chiefs. We’ve won the league and the cup in my first season. But I have been working on these plans for years.”

Just in case that sounds like hot air, how about this from Aaron “Mbazo” Mokoena, the man Baxter appointed as his Bafana Bafana captain during his all-too-brief tenure a decade ago? 

Mokoena told me: “Stuart has had plans to develop South African footballers for years. SAFA didn’t give him the chance ten years ago. Now he will get the opportunity to put his development programme in place at Chiefs.

“I’ve always been a Baxter fan. You just watch him now he's achieve success.”

We will. Baxter has won us over on the pitch this season, surviving a difficult run-in to claim the PSL and seeing of Gavin Hunt’s tenacious SuperSport in Durban on Saturday.

After the game, Baxter grinned: "You come to a club and win the double in your first year? It's incredible and I'm immensely proud of my players.

"If someone had told me at the start of the season we would win the double I'd ask them what how much they were drinking?

"But remember, we start from scratch next season. We won't be champions of anything if we get beaten 3-0 every week!

"We'll try to repeat this year obviously, that’s what we have to do.”

Impressive stuff. Now Baxter gets the chance to impress OFF the field. I’ll keep you posted on just how successful he is. Happy ever after would be some epitaph.

Kaizer Motaung: he's nearly 70 but is there a finer man in South African football?

Chief of Chiefs: Kaizer Motaung

How not to be popular with plundering Pirates. Tell the world you wish Kaizer Motaung was still the driving force in South African football.

Watching the great man speak after the AmaKhosi’s championship celebrations in Mbombela on Saturday, you could almost forget the mess which left Polokwane City at the top of the National First Division on Sunday night. You could almost ignore his team’s unimpressive finishing to the season, five draws and two defeats in seven games.

AmaTuks' upset 1-0 win over the already-crowned Chiefs left Moroka Swallows and Mamelodi Sundowns languishing outside the PSL’s lucrative top eight. But in front of a capacity crowd surrounded by the giraffes of Mbombela’s elegant World Cup edifice, Kaizer moved us beyond the humdrum.

The words rumbled forth, easy, unprepared from a 68-year-old in full control of his faculties: “I told this team this is a great club with a great history. Now you have to go out there and write your own history. That is exactly what they have done this season.”

And for the first foreigner to win the PSL title in his first year, Stuart Baxter, he used the simple, the straightforward: “I must give credit to Stuart. He’s been incredible in his maiden season. These Chiefs will not be remembered as chokers like some others before them.”

Whether Serbian ex-boss Vladimir Vemezovic was watching, we may never know. Baxter’s arrival and early 4-1 defeat against Mamelodi Sundowns was generally lampooned but Kaizer said: “We made those changes late in the season. We took a lot of criticism. Football is a game of opinions. But we knew where we wanted to go and what we required.”

Perhaps now would be a good time to express an interest. As a kid in what was then known as Verwoerdburg (now Centurion) I was one of the few, using foreign football magazines like Shoot and Goal, to find out about Motaung’s return to South Africa in 1970.

There was not television, no internet, only censored print media to keep in touch with the real world, where all men were equal. There weren’t many black male icons in South Africa in those days who weren’t behind bars, banned or banished.

Kaizer was one. The one. Famous in the US for his exploits amid the global superstars at Atlanta Chiefs he returned to set up his own team and take on the side he grew up with in Soweto, the famous Orlando Pirates.

I met him for the first time in the early 80s as a football writer on Durban’s Natal Mercury. I was totally intimidated. By then Chiefs were the biggest club in the old NPSL and the fledgling NSL. The man had presence, authority; in the old South Africa he was a revelation.

And he remains just that. While others squabble over the fruits, he just gets on with it, surrounded by his own family and an estimated 15million AmaKhosi nationwide.

And to add the icing to the cake which has cheered so many, Chincha Guluva confirmed his iconic Zebras WILL compete in the African Champions League next season – hopefully alongside his old Pirates if they come through a tough qualifying group over the next three months.

Kaizer said: “We ARE committed to CAF. Playing in Africa means we are representing our country and it is something we cannot shy away from.

“It is expensive – and there was no sponsorship of the competition when we first got involved. That’s why South African teams pulled out.

“Now it is sponsored, even though it is not adequate and that's why as the PSL, we give the clubs that participate there R1 million.”

But Kaizer knows full well the pitfalls of travelling north: “CAF need to improve in a lot of areas. You saw what happened to Pirates in the Congo.”

This will appear as my regular "Neal and Pray" column in The New Age on Tuesday morning.

Stuart Baxter: an apology. And a massive pat on the back as Kaizer Chiefs are crowned PSL champions

Major celebration: Scorer Majoro leads the way in Polokwane last night

SO it’s done. Kaizer Chiefs grabbed the point needed to clinch their first Premier Soccer League title in eight years and a vast AmaKhosi gathering in Polokwane were able to dance Wednesday night away.

Predictably, Gavin Hunt’s SuperSport United refused to let the title-winning evening become a romp and the 1-1 draw at the Peter Mokabe Stadium means Chiefs failed to win in their last five games – but still they were crowned champions with one game to play against AmaTuks this weekend in Mbombela.

The Nedbank Cup final on May 25 at the magnificent Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban will once more pit Stuart Baxter against Hunt. Clearly, the Chiefs double will not be a doddle.

But really, that’s the point. For years, many have doubted the authenticity of South Africa’s premier division. Like the NFD just below it, the game has long been scarred by rumours of corruption, match-fixing and referee-hugging.

No more. The title run in saw both Soweto Giants tripped up again and again by teams with absolutely no right – in terms of wages, playing staff and fan base – to deny champions Orlando Pirates of glory-reclaiming Kaizer Chiefs.

But they did. Relegation threatened Capetonians Chippa United and Ajax Cape Town BOTH pulled off shock wins a fortnight before the title was decided. Again and again both the AmaKhosi and the Buccaneers were unable to force home the advantage. Referees stood firm, the opposition gave their all – particularly at Platinum Stars, where Cavin Johnson has produced a side capable of taking on the best and finishing second in the PSL.

The days when Chiefs, Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns could expect their opponents to lie down or a referee to award a few dodgy penalties appear to be behind us. While Germany, Spain, England and Italy saw their domestic leagues decided weeks before the end of the season, in South Africa Chiefs had to battle to the final days.

The scenes after the AmaKhosi success warmed the heart. The self-styled “family business” were on parade, with founder Kaizer’s iconic daughter Jessica joining her brothers Bobby and Kaizer Junior to add their words of congratulation.

Doc Khumalo, forced to take charge with Baxter suspended and communicating by cell phone up in the director’s box, was effusive. Local politicians jostled for air-time, to share in the riiiiise of the AmaKhosi with their estimated 15m fans.

In England, both Dean Furman, Gary Lineker and dozens of others expressed an interest via twitter – though it had to be explained to some that Kaizer Chiefs in South Africa were the inspiration behind the British pop group Kaiser Chiefs rather than the other way round.

And there was me. Eating humble pie. In August last year, when Chiefs were soundly thumped by Johan Neesken’s Sundowns 4-1, I wrote this http://www.neal-collins.blogspot.com/2012/08/stuart-baxter-honest-truth-about-kaizer.html as we reeled after Baxter’s disastrous opening foray.

With clear evidence of CV inflammation and signs of early lack of communication and understanding of the “South African footballing style” it appeared the man from Wolverhampton would be thrown to the wolves.

Instead, he bounced back almost immediately, with Bernard Parker scoring four times in the opening trouncing of AmaZulu. And they never looked back, losing just twice all season as Jessica’s “reclaiming the glory” motto came gloriously to pass.

I have just sent an SMS to Stuart, hoping to talk to him on what promises to be a busy day of interviews and congratulations.

I have spoken to him since I wrote those early pieces, but I’ve never really been able to say: “I got you wrong Stuart. I’m a doos/twat.” Which is what I must do later today, if he rings back.

In the meantime, as I said last week, I hope Baxter gets the chance to build on this title – as the first foreigner to win the PSL in his inaugural season he certainly deserves an extended tenure.

He has spoken of development structures at a club where the academy was closed down due to age cheating. He has talked of developing a style of play at a club which has seen a rapid turnover of coaching staff.

Now it’s Baxter to the future. Time to create a legacy. Time to shrug off the early critique. Sir Alex Ferguson was written off in his early years at Old Trafford but went on to win 13 titles and 38 trophies in 26 years.

Wouldn’t it be nice to see a South African club do that?

Earlier pieces on Baxter:
http://www.neal-collins.blogspot.com/2012/08/stuart-baxter-honest-truth-about-kaizer.html

http://www.neal-collins.blogspot.com/2012/05/komphela-matthaus-gullit-no-new-kaizer.html

http://www.neal-collins.blogspot.com/2012/05/stuart-baxter-has-proved-he-talks-talk.html