New-look Chiefs in action on July 21: that could mean EIGHT new faces

Threedom: Jessica and the No3 shirt last week

KAIZER CHIEFS will roll out their newly-acquired masterpieces – and their colourful new coach – for the first time in a competitive match at the Lucas Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville on July 21 - against Moroka Swallows in an experimental one-day, four-team tournament.

The Amakhosi’s vast array of new signings – presumably including the elusive Mulomowandau “Tower” Mathoho – have been drawn to play against Moroka Swallows in the Gauteng Sports Challenge, a multi-sports event set up by the provincial department of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation.

Chiefs today announced they are NOT chasing talented midfielder Erwin Isaacs or top scorer Eleazar Rodgers from relegated Santos but they should be able to show off Morgan Gould, Mathoho, Siboniso Gaxa, Kgotso Moleko, Brilliant Khuzwayo, Sakhile Hlongwa, Kingston Nkatha and Siyabonga Nkosi with new boss Stuart Baxter at the helm.

That means they could field as many as EIGHT new signings against Swallows if Nkatha is fit and goalkeeper Khuzwayo gets the No1 jersey ahead of Bafana’s Itumeleng Khune. Their new-look defence, featuring Gould, Mathoho and Belgium-honed Gaxa has to be among the best in the country right now.

It promises to be an eventful day at the stadium named after the legendary Masterpieces Moripe – PSL rivals SuperSport United and Bidvest Wits open proceedings at 10am before Chiefs take on Soweto rivals Swallows – also under new management following Gordon Igesund’s appointment as the new Bafana Bafana coach - at high noon. The two winners will play in the final at 5.15pm. Chiefs will face arch-rivals and champions Orlando Pirates in the Carlin Cup a week later.

Former Bafana boss Baxter, who has much to prove after controversy over his CV since his time in South Africa ten years ago, said: “I don't think there's anyone at Naturena who says we don't want to win.

"And we want very, very badly, very passionately to go on and lift the PSL title. That is something everyone associated with Kaizer Chiefs will tell you with all of their heart. No one can promise we will win the league. What we can promise is that the boys and the technical staff and supporters will give their back teeth to win the league.

"So, we will do everything that we can.  We CAN promise every drop of blood in our body and every drop of sweat we can muster will go towards winning every game.

"And I'm not telling anybody they have to wait. There's no time like the present."

With general manager Bobby Motaung still mourning the loss of brother Thabo – he was buried last Saturday – it was sister Jessica who fronted the latest Chiefs press conference once more, just as she did last week when she famously unveiled six new signings and Tower’s No3 shirt.

Since then, two of the new signings – goalkeeper Khuzwayo and midfielder Nkatha – have turned out competitively for other teams and Tower himself remains unveiled.

Jessica failed to address injury concerns over Nkatha – he went off injured during Black Leopard’s CAF Confederations Cup clash in Sudan last Saturday – and exactly why we haven’t seen Tower in his No3 shirt yet.

But the glamorous Marketing Director, flanked by her new communications manager Vina Maphosa, said: “We are very excited to be participating in the Gauteng Sports Challenge in 2012. We are also happy to be supporting Gauteng. The tournament gives us an opportunity to prepare for the upcoming season.

“We are also happy to be meeting Moroka Swallows, one of the in-form teams last season. Games between the two sides have always been thrilling affairs and this upcoming one is not going to be any different.”

Speaking for the first time since his brother Thabo’s death, Bobby confirmed the Amakhosi will NOT be splashing out on Isaacs or Rodgers saying from Naturena today: "The coach wanted 28 players and he has 28 players. If we buy more players it means we must then move others.”

Treble-winning Pirates are now first in the queue for Rodgers, who scored 15 goals last season for lowly Santos.

New Swallows boss Zeca Marques, who steps up from No2 following Igesund’s call-up to national service, said: “People think a coach can just come in and wave a magic wand and “voila”, things happen. I know that is not the case.         

 “I was schooled in Portugal, so for me it’s all about creativity, flair and playing to win. That is the philosophy I will bring to the job.

“I know there will be great expectations, but the players realise that too and their ambition is the same as mine, to go out there and win trophies.

“Gordon had a very similar outlook last season and we shared ideas about how the team should play, that was brought out in the type of players we signed, guys like David Mathebula and Joseph Makhanya.

“We were always bouncing ideas between us and I had quite a bit of input. We shared the same vision and my vision for the team now has not changed much.”

Tickets for the Gauteng Challenge will go on sale at R50. 00 for adults and R20.00 for children under 12 years, from Monday at Computicket nationwide.

Come in Number Three: Kaizer Chiefs unveil six-and-a-half new signings, but where's the Tower?

Two Many Chiefs: YeYe and Tower train with Bafana

Kaizer Chiefs proudly unveiled six-and-a-half new signings for the 2012-13 season when they unveiled Mulomowandau Mathoho’s No3 shirt… but not the towering Bafana Bafana centre-back himself.

While the haggling with Bloemfontein Celtic over “Tower” goes on… and on… and on… let’s take a quick look at the half-a-dozen new Chiefs currently training with new boss Stuart Baxter – who admits he played no part in helping Bobby Motuang choose his reinforcements after South Africa’s “biggest” club finished fourth in the PSL last season.

We already knew about young Amazulu goalkeeper Nhlanhla “Brilliant” Khuzwayo, who will get a replica of Itumeleng Khune’s No1 jersey and then try to make it his. Khuzwayo was not “officially unveiled” either - because he was in goal for Neil Tovey’s Thanda Royal Zulu during their devastating 3-0 defeat against Chippa United at Richard’s Bay yesterday.

Then there’s the talented No5, Siboniso Gaxa, released after a successful spell with Belgian club Lierse, and No8 Kingston Nkhatha, signed for a reputed R3m from continental crusaders Black Leopards. We also knew about their new No10, Siyabonga Nkosi returning to the club aged 30, after a spell in Europe and Durban. Was he really the sharpest of the Golden Arrows last season?

We’ve got the more modest No18, Kgotso Moleko, the right-back from Bloemfontein Celtic who impressed new boss Stuart Baxter on the first day of pre-season on Monday and signed on the spot.

Even further down the numerical pecking order, we find No28 Sakhile “Ghaba” Hlongwa, an Umlazi-born striker who spent last season at Nedbank Cup minnows Ethekwini Coastal FC. His old youth coach has been in touch, claims he’s a top goal-getter despite modest stats.

And way down the order, there’s Morgan Gould, the SuperSport United and Bafana centre-back who will wear No83. Now he IS impressive. And ideally suited to taking the captaincy in a club proven to be devoid of any real leadership on the pitch last season.

Which just goes to show, numbers mean nothing. And neither do shirts. As the twitterers so forcefully point out, parading a jersey rather than the bloke himself at the swanky Thaba Ya Batswana conventon centre is laughable. Bloemfontein Celtic must be laughing… or crying.

It was left to general manager Bobby Motuang’s sister Jessica, the family business’s Marketing Director and glamorous daughter of Chief’s founder Kaizer to tell us about Tower’s No3 jersey, which wasn’t doing much explaining.

She simply stated the obvious: “I was unveiling the jersey, I was not unveiling the player. But I'm confident that Mathoho will be a Chiefs player by the start of the season.

"It is a work in progress. We are talking to Celtic, we are working 24/7 to land his signature. We have agreed terms with the player and his agent. And the player has made it clear he wants to come to Chiefs. We will make sure we come out tops on this issue and make sure that he dons the black and gold this season.

“We know Edward Manqele (the former Free State Stars top-scorer lured away by Sundowns) also said that he wanted to play for us but it didn't work but this issue is different and the club is confident we can land him by July 1."

The gorgeous Jessica also confirmed the two DKs, Doc Khumalo and Donald Khuze, will continue to support the new coach.  Khumalo, though he was barely mentioned at the press conference, said: “I’ve had a face to face with Mr Baxter, he is the right man for the job.” Great stuff, Doc.

Arthur Zwane, the third caretaker coach in the tricky triumvirate appointed after Vladimir Vermezovic’s hasty departure late last season, has “already started working with the development of players”.

Baxter, the former Bafana coach who falsified his CV when questioned by Star football writer Jonty Mark after his appointment three months ago, admits he had absolutely no part in selecting these new players (nor, presumably, Mathoho’s shirt) though he does claim he was “in constant contact” with Bobby throughout the off-season wheeler-dealing: "I was not the one who scouted all the players, but there were on-going conversations by telephone. I'm very happy with the technical team that we've got.”

On the day Sundowns presented us with a new team manager – Mike Ntombela returns to the club, replacing Michael Manzini – and Orlando Pirates promoted Simphiwe Ngwenya to “second assistant coach” after 12 years of working with Augusto Palacios, Chiefs might not have achieved quite what they set out to with the big announcement at Thaba Ya Batswana.

Jessica insisted: “We have signed players who we hope will help us achieve our goals this season. We want to win trophies.” Unfortunately Jessica, players lift silverware. You can hardly even polish a trophy with a No3 jersey.

But with Tim Sukazi, Tower’s agent, appealing to the nation’s constitution and insisting footballers are not “slave labour”, perhaps it’s not worth Sundowns getting shirty about Mathoho’s move. Celtic will have to settle for the Amakhosi’s R5m rather than the Braziliant offer of R7m plus two of their many surplus squad members. What choice do they have?

And reports that Patrice Motsepe’s hard-working Trott Moloto immediately stepped in and offered to double Mathoho’s shirt number to six are clearly just mischief making from former Fleet Street journalists who think they are oh, so clever.

The important point is this: Mulomowandau Mothoho has made a brave stand, insisting on joining Chiefs rather than adding his name to the long list of top young players who disappear at Sundowns (we can only hope Manqele is not just the latest). Bobby Motaung has clearly failed to back the 23-year-old Tower, who was rumoured to be back with his Sundowns-chasing father in Venda yesterday.

Sukazi admitted Tower was at Naturena earlier in the week but said: “He’s just there to assess the environment and he has not signed for Chiefs, I must stress that. He’s only having a look around and getting a feel for the club and the new coach. That is all."

Mathoho himself says: "I made it clear to my club that Chiefs is where I am going to. My stance is still the same. Sundowns did make an approach but I must follow my heart. The support I have been receiving from my family has helped me to deal with this."

Bobby? Kaizer? They are saying nothing. And they appear reluctant to part with any more money to recreate the national side’s centre-back pairing of Gould and Mathoho.

But for all their penny-pinching grinchery, the Amakhosi will get a man to put inside the No3 shirt. I’m almost sure of it.