Orlando Pirates: Did they pay off coach Leal... or did he leave with nothing. The truth is out there...

ON the South African “who’s who” website Dominic Buti Ntsele, born on October 30, 1966, is listed thus: “He has handled some of the toughest corporate crises and issues in South Africa and the US. He is a communications strategist.”

Yet again this week, Dom found out that corporate crises are nothing compared to sorting out a football club.

Though Mr Ntsele is listed as having several high-powered executive roles, it’s his position as a director of Orlando Pirates FC which has seen him come under fire the day after the Buccaneers finally parted company with Brazilian coach Julio Leal.

The problem is this: Dom went on the excellent Robert Marawa show on MetroFM on Monday night and assured listeners: “Leal did not receive a pay-off for leaving Orlando Pirates after seven months of his three-year contract.”

And on Tuesday morning, The New Age’s equally excellent Patrick Baloyi grabbed the front page rather than the back to tell readers: “Leal departs R2m richer.”

Baloyi reports an unnamed director as saying: “Leal is legally sharp and would not have left Orlando without a fight.”

The unloved Brazilian, suspended last month when he said he “couldn’t see a way forward”, was paid R350,000 a month. In his short seven months at the Pirates, where he surprisingly replaced treble-winning Dutchman Ruud Krol, Leal won the MTN8 and Telkom Trophies, to ensure the Buccaneers had their hand on every domestic trophy in the country.

The key to Leal’s departure came with the mounting criticism from within the camp that grew before their African Champions League opening round failure against Angola’s Recreativo do Libolo. I wrote at the time that Leal was on his way out http://neal-collins.blogspot.com/2012/02/revolting-buccaneers-threaten-to-sink.html and though it was roundly denied by all – notably team spokesman and goalkeeper Monieb Josephs - it was of course true.

Since his suspension, Peruvian caretaker Augusto Palacios has seen the Pirates crash out of the Nedbank Cup but did manage to orchestrate a 3-2 win over Soweto rivals Kaizer Chiefs and Wednesday's 1-0 win over Amazulu puts them level on points with leaders Mamelodi Sundowns, who suffered a third consecutive 0-0 draw despite having 26 efforts on goal against Golden Arrows.

But on the social networking sites, the talk is of Leal’s pay-off. Did he or didn’t he? Did Ntsele, the spin doctor, lie to the fans on air?

So I called Ntsele, the master communicator. No reply. Left a message, sent a text. Then he called back.

And he couldn’t have been more certain. Ntsele told me: “In the absence of real news, fantasy and fiction seems to prevail. I can categorically tell you Leal was not paid to leave Orlando Pirates.

“The man wanted to walk away. We would not pay him to leave under those circumstances. It’s not just unlikely, it just wouldn’t happen. You are asking me for the truth, you want to tell the fans what is happening: There it is, straight from the horse’s mouth.

“I am a director of the club, I would know if we paid off Leal for the remaining two and a half years of his contract. I can categorically say we didn’t.”

So Ntsele is emphatic. But so is The New Age. The black-and-white clad Ghost are confused. But there is a solution.

The problem here seems to be the immense salary offered to Leal when he mysteriously took over from the record-breakingly successful Krol.

Ntsele admits there is a question over the remaining five months’ money paid in advance to Leal – his first year’s salary in a three-year contract. Ntsele says they won’t be claiming that back. Simple mathematics will tell you five times R350,000 comes to R1,750,000. That’s pretty close to R2m.

To pay off Leal for the remainder of his contract would have amounted to far more than that, just under R10m.

With the fans baying for the truth and claiming Ntsele lied on MetroFm, it’s just possible both Baloyi and Ntsele are perfectly within their rights. No, Leal did not get paid off R9,800,000 for the rest of his contract. But yes, the over-paid Brazilian will be following his wife back to Brazil with nearly R2m after barely seven months in the job.

There, sorted.

Oh, and on the subject of a new Pirates manager Ntsele is equally forthright. With Nigeria's Sampson Siasia being roundly touted for Leal's job, Ntsele told me this morning: "Look, we haven't even started talking about a permanent coach for next season. I can reconfirm Palacios will be in charge until the end of the season.

"Of course, Orlando Pirates is a huge club. We are being approached by all sorts of people, from all over Africa, Eastern Europe and beyond.

"You can expect agents to leak names to newspapers but we won't even be thinking about the new appointment. That's the truth."

But then there is the thorny problem, much like last season, of what happens if Palacios, against all the odds, wins the title now that he has put his trust in Tokela Rantie up front alongside Benni McCarthy, a dynamic duo which seems to work. Surely they can't get rid of the championship-winning coach two years on the trot?

Was Palacios listening when I wrote this abuot Rantie last October? http://www.neal-collins.blogspot.com/2011_10_01_archive.html

Given the choice between Palacios, Vermezovic and Komphela, who would you choose?

The biggest question in South African football is the simplest one of all: presented with Vladimir Vermezovic, Augusto Palacios and Steve Komphela, who would YOU choose to coach your football club?

Not difficult is it? Kaizer Chiefs boss VV isn’t that bad. He produces answers we can understand without sub-titles, though the Serbian has yet to explain satisfactorily the curious absence of midfielder Tinashe Nengomasha in recent weeks, following an alleged training-ground bust-up.

Lehlohonolo Majoro's four-goal Nedbank Cup blitz against the Leopards at the weekend certainly did VV no harm. The lad with "balz" now has eight goals in seven games and may just turn things around for the patient Amakhosi millions.

Palacios, the Peruvian caretaker at Orlando Pirates, remains difficult to read or listen to. His tactical decisions in the Buccaneers’ 2-1 extra-time Nedbank Cup defeat against Komphela’s Free State Stars were hard to fathom, just like those of his suspended Brazilian predecessor Julio Leal. He gained measure of revenge in the League game against Komphela’s men, but I’m still not convinced.

And then we have Komphela and his little Stars of Bethlehem. Not only has the former Amakhosi midfielder produced a multi-national company to be proud of in South Africa’s remote “House of Bread”, he also gives a cracking interview – and was able to raise his shell-shocked troops to victory in extra-time after the late, late equaliser from Daine Klaite last week.

The Nedbank Cup quarter-final against Kaizer Chiefs now looms for “Ea Lla Kotto” (Basotho for ”fight to the end”) and even a possible title tilt, though the three Soweto giants – never forget Moroka Swallows - and Johan Neeskens’ currently impregnable Sundowns stand firmly in their way.

The point is this: With Palacios is temporary charge at Pirates and VV under huge pressure at Chiefs, surely Komphela should be the coach of choice for Irvin Khoza and Kaizer Motaung, South Africa’s footballing king-makers?

It’s not like this is a new story. Google “Neal Collins Free State Stars” and you’ll find http://neal-collins.blogspot.com/2011/12/o-little-town-of-bethlehem-all-you-ever.html, my pre-Christmas epic which wrapped up and presented Komphela’s men, including Zambia’s Afcon winning goalkeeper Kennedy Mweena and top-scorer Edward Manqela two weeks before Santa popped down the chimney.

Curiously, Kaizer and his son Bobby have emphatically denied any link between their family business and Komphela, who served under Bafana Bafana boss Palacios a full 20 years ago.

All the talk is of Bloemfontein Celtic coach Clinton Larsen or Germany’s 1990 World Cup-winning captain Lothar Mathaus heading for the big time, with former Pirates’ treble-winning boss Ruud Krol waiting in the wings with his notebook and pen resplendent at so many SAPL matches this season.

Madness. In a nation crying out for local coaches of quality at all levels, Komphela, who played 24 times for South Africa in a playing career which covered Chiefs, Stars and two stints in Turkey, stands out like a sore but prominent thumb.

His post-match interview on Saturday was a thing of beauty, as it so often is with the philosophical Komphela.

He generously paid tribute to the Buccaneers who walked the plank in a cup competition for the first time since 2010, saying: “There was a moment when I felt that it was not meant to be our night (that was probably in the inexplicable 5^th minute of injury time when Klaite’s free-kick found a route past the miserly Mweene) but my players showed great fighting spirit.

“We knew the Pirates profile. We knew they were dangerous. My team’s performance was close to perfection. It had to be.”

Despite a subsequent Rantie/McCarthy inspired defeat on the cabbage patch that is the Orlando Stadium, Komphela remains an over-achiever this season.

As for his relationship with then-national boss Palacios in 1992, Khompela grinned: “I remember well how Augusto made me captain of the national team. It was Palacios who introduced me to leadership – so it was interesting to achieve victory against my leader, my mentor, my coach.

“Augusto came up to me before he game and said: ‘We have to kill each other today,’ but no son can be happy murdering his father. We just scored beautiful goals.”

Read it carefully. This man Khomphela has the verbal acumen of Tottenham’s Harry Redknapp and, arguably, the recuperational skills of Sunderland’s Martin O’Neill. Give him the longevity in management offered to Sir Alex Ferguson or Arsene Wenger, and South Africa will have a coach to conjure with.

NEDBANK CUP QUARTER-FINAL DRAW:
Amazulu (my choice) v Santos
Kaizer Chiefs v Free State Stars
SuperSport United v Jomo Cosmos
Mamelodi Sundowns v Maritzburg United

This column first appeared in www.thenewage.co.za. A newspaper well worth a read… my column Neal and Pray appears every Tuesday… and it’s only R3.50!

Soweto derby special: Palacios promised he'd make mistakes. He already has.



Look at me! Palacios on a visit to Old Trafford this year

AUGUSTO PALACIOS issued this immortal line within 24 hours of being put back in charge of South African champions Orlando Pirates: “I will take things one game at a time, but I will make mistakes.”

And Njenje, who showed no signs of living up to a CV which includes Bafana Bafana and Kaizer Chiefs, promptly make a series of massive blunders on Wednesday night.

While suspended coach Julio “I can’t see a way forward” Leal presumably watched on television, the bumbling Buccaneers slumped to a 3-0 defeat against lowly Santos.

They had no spark, no life, no shape. Benni McCarthy, so often left on the bench by Leal, started but was jerked off after an hour with the score at 2-0.

And with the Soweto derby looming – all 90,000 tickets have been sold for World Cup final venue Soccer City on Saturday – the Cape Town chapter of the Ghost sloped away into the night, fearing the worst.

Palacios, the 60-year-old who is apparently addicted to coaching football at Africa’s tip, appears unruffled by a shocking reverse in Athlone.

This was the man who promised us instant attacking football, utter transformation of the Buccaneers who have carried off every major domestic trophy in South Africa over the last 12 months.

But no, instead we got nothing, zilch, niks, nada. While Chelsea, also under caretaker management, have come out with all guns blazing since the departure of much-maligned coach Andre Villas Boas, Leal’s suspension offered no “bouncebackability” factor whatsoever.

While the London Blues under Roberto di Matteo crushed Napoli 4-1, the Bucs barely threatened the giant Gambian goalkeeper Pa Dembo Touray.

Which leaves the black-and-white clad Ghost heading for Saturday with a distinctly haunted look. Palacios looked surprisingly upbeat after his dismal start, saying: “The early goal was a big blow and we did not take our chances.

“There were defensive mistakes, like giving opponents too much space, and these must be corrected urgently.”

But he stubbornly insists: "We will be ready for Chiefs. They beat us 2-1 in the first round and we are ready to avenge that defeat.”

But of course, they’re not ready. How could they be when they disposed of their Brazilian coach less than a week before a derby which will empty the streets of this football-mad nation?

Palacios rambles away: “We are all professionals and we have to respect one another for all of us to succeed at Pirates. I reminded the players that I expect discipline from them to protect the brand and help Orlando Pirates win both the Nedbank Cup and the League.”

Going in to the game, there was such optimism. With the Telkom Knock-out and MTN Super8 trophies already added by Leal to the treble they won under Dutchman Ruud Krol last season, Pirates were third in the table and had seen leaders Sundowns slip up in a 1-1 draw against Wits on Tuesday night.

Wins over Santos and Chiefs would have put them top, with Sundowns to come next Tuesday. All to play for.

Palacios appeared confident, eager to work with the remnants of Leal’s coaching staff: “I can only appeal to the Pirates fans for support to take this club where it belongs. I have worked with Tebogo Moloi before and Willie Okpara has been with Pirates for a long time. I am happy to be working with them again.”

But it was all just hot air. Something Palacios is adept at producing.

If you look back two weeks when the Leal crisis began to emerge (see http://www.neal-collins.blogspot.com/2012/02/revolting-buccaneers-threaten-to-sink.html) I was told Moloi would take over when Pirates chairman Irvin Khoza finally wielded his iron fist.

But no, instead the Buccaneers find themselves landed with a Peruvian who offers an internet site where he promises to promote four players a year from his personal academy on to the famous Orlando Pirates ship.

The man has not been involved in the day-to-day running of the side. He spent most of his time promoting his own youth set-up in Arthur Block Park in Mayfair, finding young players and promising them the world.

On his error-strewn website, beneath a picture of a young Augusto in military uniform, he tells aspirant youngsters: “I which to show to you different aspects of my life in football. My experience in football dates as back as many years. I travelled throughout the world because of my passion for this sport, and I must say that I am very humbled to have gained the recognition and appreciation from all those who love football.”

So who is Palacios? Like so many foreign coaches in Africa, he remains a complicated blend of self-promotion and vague history. Wikipedia don’t list him. Despite his term as an international boss, there is no listing for international appearances or honours won anywhere on the internet – apart from where he himself has listed them.

Should men like these coach top African football sides while great former professionals languish penniless in retirement?

I predict Saturday will be a huge disappointment. Both Palacios and Kaizer Chiefs’ Serbian boss Vladimir Vermezovic are under huge pressure. They will be scared to lose rather than eager to triumph. They will pack Soccer City with defensive midfielders, and 90,000 fans will witness yawn-a-minute football.

Of course, if Palacios rouses his over-paid Pirates to a win over Chiefs on Saturday, everyone will be backing the pensioner from Peru who coached Bafana way back in the early 90s and hasn’t been in charge of a major team for a decade.

But me? I’ll carry on wondering why he got the nod when treble-winning Ruud Krol and Germany’s 1990 World Cup winning captain Lothar Mathaus lurk on the periphery.

And I’ll remain convinced that former South African greats like Lucas Radebe and Philemon Masinga, not to mention Pirates current 34-year-old veteran Benni McCarthy, should be encouraged to coach when their careers dwindle to a close.

Oh, here’s a full list of Palacios’ qualifications, as listed, with plenty of errors, on the website http://www.augustopalacios.co.za/profile.html:

-  ANEF (Association National Coaches Football) Lima- Peru

-  Costa Rica, Education Recreation of Football Sport Institute.

-  Advance Course Professional Sport Medicine and sport seminary

-  Goalkeeper coaching Clinic Peru

-  Titular Diploma professional Football Coach Federation Peruvian of Football 2005.

-  Licence of Professional football coach Licence “A” Licence No.DT00712005-FPF 2005.

-  Category “A” Federation Peruvian Football.

-  Certificated of participated Federation Peruvian of Football of the course of for the high levelcompetition performance

    pedagogy 40 hours 2005

-  International Coaching course- with good results. Germany Federation DFB 2000.

-  Certificated attendance FUTURO I FIFA Coca-Cola Development programme Johannesburg South Africa November 1993

   (I was coordinated of the course)

-  Certificated attendance FUTURO II FIFA Coaching Course November 2000 Vanderbiljpark - South Africa

-  Certificated attendance FUTURO III FIFA Coaching course October 2004 Maseru Lesotho

-  Certificated attendance FUTURO refreshers’ course of Coaching Instructor November 2006 Maputo Mozambique.

-  Certificated Partuicpated FIFA Goalkeeping Instructors seminar Sthwane /Pretoria 2011 South Africa

Orlando Pirates suspend Julio Leal: is it time for coach McCarthy?

Lend me you Buccaneers: Julio Leal and Benni McCarthy

READERS of this blog won’t be surprised to hear it, but the uninformed will be amazed to hear that Orlando Pirates’ Brazilian coach Julio Leal has been suspended today, pending an investigation.

With the Kaizer Chiefs showdown looming in Soweto on Saturday, the Iron Duke has shown his steel.

Back on Tuesday, February 28, I wrote this piece http://www.neal-collins.blogspot.com/2012/02/revolting-buccaneers-threaten-to-sink.html headlined “Revolting Buccaneers threaten to sink Brazilian boss Leal”. Last week, after repeated denials from Leal, his goalkeeper Moeneeb Josephs and all sorts of Buccaneering types, I wrote http://www.neal-collins.blogspot.com/2012/03/will-irvin-khosa-do-roman-abramovich.html which suggested chairman Irvin Khoza, the Iron Duke, would follow the example set by Chelsea and sack his coach under pressure from his senior players, namely one Benni McCarthy.

Again, all sorts of denials. He’s won two trophies already this season, said the non-believers. They’re still in contention for the League despite that embarrassing African Champions League exit in Angola. They didn’t sparkle in their Nedbank Cup clash with Third Division minnows Ethekwini Coastal over the weekend but they won 1-0. No need to panic.

But there was. Just like Andre Villas Boas at Chelsea when Frank Lampard went public with his dissatisfaction, Leal was on his way out from the moment the Pirates players got together a fortnight ago to tell chairman Khoza they wanted the ineffectual Brazilian OUT.
Why do you think 34-year-old McCarthy started the game in Umlazi on Saturday? Because Leal had suddenly seen the light or because he felt threatened by the former Blackburn Rovers and West Ham striker?

Today, the full text of Orlando Pirates’ official statement reads:  “Orlando Pirates Football Club has with immediate effect suspended the coach, Mr Julio Cesar Leal, as the club embarks on a fact finding investigation into reasons why, during performance evaluation sessions, the coach expressed that “he could not see his way forward” and offered the chairman “to do what is right for the club”.

“Augusto Palacios, Technical Director of Development will assume the role of head coach. The rest of the technical team stays the same.”

That’s not quite as bad as what’s happened at Platinum Stars, where coach Owen Da Gama has been suspended pending an investigation in to players having to pay their boss R5,000 to play in the first team. But it’s just as final.

Leal will not be back.

As Pirates wait for today’s Nedbank Cup last 16 draw and send out Sifiso Myene for a reserve friendly against Moroka Swallows at The Dome this afternoon, we should be talking about an all-conquering side in perfect harmony.

Instead, though the Buccaneers have plundered every major domestic trophy on offer in South Africa, the club is in turmoil.

But before rival Kaizer Chiefs fans begin celebrating prior to the weekend’s huge Soweto derby against the Ghost and their haunted professionals, consider this: Ruud Krol, the Dutchman so rudely ejected from Orlando despite winning an unprecedented treble last season, is still in the market.

And Germany’s 1990 World Cup-winning captain Lothar Mattheus has, I’m reliably informed, handed his CV to Khoza. Then there’s Free State Stars boss Steve Komphela waiting in the wings for a bigger, better club than the little stars of Bethlehem.

Any one of these three could walk the plank before the weekend. Even if they don’t, the players will be revelling in their revolution.

To parody the traditional end of epoch motto: The coach is gone. Long live the coach.

Have you seen how Chelsea are playing since AVB departed? John Terry is playing like the lighthouse of old, Didier Drogba banged in his 100^th Premier League goal over the weekend, the first African to achieve that feat.

Now, with Leal gone, Benni McCarthy – a man of considerable experience and a deadly nose for goal – will be telling his stunned Buccaneer buddies: “Let’s get out there and show the Iron Duke what we can do.”

Believe me, today’s suspension will not weaken the Pirates at 2.30pm on Saturday. The 14 million Amakhosi will need to pray even harder than they were before. And what price Benni McCarthy becoming a player-coach? At 34, he's the same age as AVB was at Chelsea!

Follow me on www.twitter.com/nealcol. That way, you get to hear these things before our mates.

Nedbank Cup last 16 draw just in:
Kaizer Chiefs vs Black Leopards
Orlando Pirates vs Free State Stars
Bidvest Wits vs Mamelodi Sundowns
Golden Arrows vs Maritzburg United
Amazulu vs Witbank Spurs
Jomo Cosmos vs Platinum Stars
United FC vs Supersport United
Roses United vs Santos

Will Irvin Khoza do a Roman Abramovich? Orlando Pirates set to follow Chelsea and push the coach

ORLANDO PIRATES could be under new management by the end of the week, with assistant coach Tebogo Moloi poised to temporarily replace the unpopular Julio Leal after two weeks of unrest in the camp.

Following the Sowetan giants’ failure to progress in the African Champions League on Sunday, no-nonsense supremo Irvin Khoza will hold a “crisis meeting to map out the future” today, with the results expected to be announced later this week.

Coach out, assistant in? Sounds familiar, doesn’t it: Buccaneers or Blues? It matters not. This week, parallels between west London and Soweto have never been more significant. At Orlando Pirates today, chairman Khoza is deciding whether he should do a Roman Abramovich and fire the coach after less than a season in charge.

On Sunday, 5,000 miles north of Soweto, the young Portuguese coach at Chelsea, Andre Villas Boas, found himself ditched after less than eight months in charge after Saturday’s shocking 1-0 defeat against West Brom. Though the Blues remain in contention for the Champions League – they must overcome a 3-1 deficit against Napoli at Stamford Bridge next week – and face an FA Cup replay against Birmingham tomorrow night – AVB’s “project” was derailed. At 34, the man who started his coaching career as a scout under Jose Mourinho, finds himself unemployed. But not for long given the Portuguese League, Cup and Europa League he won last season.

At around the same time on Sunday, Leal put out a Pirates side without experienced – and hugely popular - striker Benni McCarthy in Angola as he attempted to overturn a 3-1 deficit against Libolo in Calulo. A desperate 1-1 draw ensued, with McCarthy coming on as a late substitute in a game marred by controversial injuries, a disallowed goal and a brief touchline brawl.

Unlike AVB in London, Leal hasn’t done that badly on the field. His side are currently third in the race to defend their league title, they start their Nedbank Cup defence at the weekend and they have already won the Telkom Knockout and MTN Super-eight.

The problem is that, like AVB, Leal has, as we said here last week, lost the dressing room.

AVB’s “project” was to ease out the old Mourinho mob at Chelsea – thirtysomethings Didier Drogba, John Terry, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard. He failed. Lamps, often left on the bench this season, went public with his “problems with the boss”.

At Pirates, Leal frequently leaves the 34-year-old, slightly overweight McCarthy on the bench, much to the chagrin of the black-and-white clad Ghost and his anxious team-mates. Leal also chooses to stick to his own particular methods and his broken English tends to result in frequent misunderstandings with the staff and players, who won the treble last season under the still-unemployed Dutch master Ruud Krol.

Abramovich has acted. In a brief phone call from the Russian elections on Sunday, he sacked AVB and put Roberto di Matteo, his assistant in charge.

Today, “Iron Duke” Khoza finds himself under pressure to act. Both he and Abramovich are rich, powerful men; they don’t suffer fools gladly, they don’t see losing as an option.

Like AVB, Leal has had eight brief months to sort things out. To persuade both players and fans he is the right man for the job. Like Chelsea, Pirates have as assistant waiting in the wings to take charge on a temporary basis. The difference between Tebogo Moloi and Robert di Matteo is that Moloi is relatively popular with the squad. Di Matteo is nothing of the sort. According to this morning’s Sun in London, he is “even more unpopular than AVB”.

There’s a chance, of course, the Leal – whose brother Jairo helps Pitso Mosimane at Bafana Bafana – will stay in his precarious position for a while longer. But ultimately, it’s only a matter of time before Irvin Khosa does a Roman Abramovich.

At Chelsea, the ghost of Jose Mourinho still lurks – he was seen house-hunting in London last week and is believed to be ready to leave Real Madrid once he’s wrapped up La Liga. In Orlando, Ruud Krol still stalks the stadia with his notebook and appearances on Robert Marawa’s Thursday Live. But it’s not always the obvious candidates who get the job. Watch this space.

Revolting Buccaneers threaten to sink Brazilian boss Leal

Super sub: Julio Leal with Benni McCarthy

South Africa’s all-conquering Orlando Pirates face a dressing room revolt over their Brazilian boss Julio Leal BEFORE they travel to Angola this weekend for the second leg of their African Champions League clash with Recreativo Desportivo do Libolo.

While their Bafana Bafana colleagues prepare to take on Senegal in Durban tomorrow night, the Buccaneers – excused international call-up for the friendly as they prepare to overcome a 3-1 first leg deficit against the Angolans on Saturday – are reported to be in a “players-only” meeting where problems with their coach will be thrashed out.

Rumours that Leal had “lost the dressing room” emerged a fortnight ago, belying the club’s current status as the holders of all the domestic trophies on offer in South Africa. Under Leal, the reigning League champions have already won the Telkom Knock-out and MTN Super Eight titles this season.

Yesterday, the popular Soccer Laduma site reported the players don’t want Leal to accompany them on the tough trip to Angola, where they require a 3-0 win to overcome the away goal. They quote an anonymous player as saying: “Most of us have lost faith in the guy and even feel he shouldn’t be taking us to Angola if we are to have any chance of turning the tie around.”

Goalkeeper Moeneeb Josephs is alleged to have voiced the squad’s complaints to the club’s powerful chairman Irvin Khosa, the “Iron Duke” who has immense influence in South African football.

A second Buccaneer is quoted saying: “Don’t be fooled by the recent good results, it doesn’t mean everything is okay with the team. With the quality squad we have, we should be doing better.”

Pirates won the treble in South Africa last season and are currently third in the South African Premier League, level on points with Soweto neighbours Kaizer Chiefs and just three points adrift of big-spending leaders Mamelodi Sundowns.

But their League position belies a series of problems in the Pirates camp, which came to a head on Sunday when Leal, surprisingly brought in to replace the highly successful Dutchman Ruud Krol at the start of the season, admitted the fans had persuaded him to bring on match-winner Benni McCarthy.

With his side held goalless for 70 minutes by lowly Martizburg United, Leal had already made two impactless substitutions when he brought on former West Ham United striker McCarthy. Three minutes later Bafana Bafana’s record goal-scorer, now 34 and fined for being too fat at Upton Park, produced an acrobatic overhead kick to win the game.

Haunted by the Ghost – the name given to skull-and-crossbone clad Bucaneer faithful - Leal confessed: "I know very well the Orlando Pirates supporters. They were in a hurry. They asked for Benni by chanting his name. They were right and I was right to make the change."

Amid suggestions that the Ghost had frightened the Brazilian into a response, Leal said: "I respect that, but this is not mathematics or science. This is an art and it comes with emotions.”

Leal’s season has not been easy despite his trophy-winning exploits. Stepping in to Krol’s shoes after wins in three competitions – league, cup and top eight - was never going to be comfortable. Matters were complicated when his popular assistant coach Joao da Silva returned to Latin America, apparently annoyed over Leal’s methods.

Leal, whose younger brother Jairo is Pitso Mosimane’s backroom assistant with the international squad, struggles to speak fluent English in post-match interviews and looked embarrassed after the dreadful 3-1 defeat to Recreativo in Port Elizabeth. Analysts suggest little homework had been done to find out exactly who the Angolan dangermen were.

After seeing his side move back in to title contention with two squeaky League wins since the eight-week Christmas break, Leal confesses: “Pressure? Well, I hear people talk. They say a lot of things that I’m under pressure, that I’m taking a lot of stress.”

And he says of the trip to Angola: “We scored four against Platinum Stars two weeks ago. We can do it again.”

But he made no mention of the three goals conceded at the Bafokeng Sports Palace – or the last-gasp Josephs save needed to secure the win.

Global piracy in turmoil as Buccaneers ask: Who is this swashbuckling Tokela Rantie?

A desperately-needed late winner for Orlando Pirates against Jomo Cosmos at a delirious Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Sunday has got Buccaneers fans scratching their heads. Just who is this super-sub Tokela Wayne Rantie they were asking from Port Elizabeth to Soweto.

Making just his second appearance, the 21-year-old looked compact, dangerous – and dare we say it – not unlike a young Benni McCarthy as he snatched all three points off Jomo’s rock bottom Ezenkosi.

Ironically the young man from Parys in the Orange Free State – the Afrikaans version of Paris on the banks of the Vaal has its own mini-Eiffel Tower but little in the way of footballing history - may yet get to play alongside the 33-year-old McCarthy, currently hamstrung and out of the Pirates line-up.

But for those mystified by the maturity of Rantie’s 12-minute cameo as a substitute on Sunday, there is a history, suggesting the real possibility that Julio Leal may have unearthed a real nugget. The manner of his winner – cool control on a long ball from captain Lucky Lekgwathi, easing past the defender to ram the ball beyond bemused Cosmos goalkeeper Avril Phali – suggests there’s plenty more to come.

After his heroics which led to wild celebrations from under-pressure Brazilian boss Leal, the “unknown Buccaneer” grinned: “I really don’t have much to say! I was just sitting on the bench, analysing the weaknesses of their defence, when the boss put me on.

“I came on when there was a lot of pressure. It was 1-1 and could’ve gone either way. It was a matter of taking that information I had gathered and then putting it in to practice, which I did.”

Rantie has played for Ferroviario de Beira and Clube Desporto de Maxaquene (there’s video of him in action at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY-QPzHh9uI) in Mozambique and spent time with Swedish club IFK Hässleholm before arriving at Orlando on a season-long loan after scoring twice for the Stars of Africa Academy in a 3-2 friendly defeat against the Buccaneers.

Farouk Khan, the man behind the Stars of Africa outfit which discovered Rantie and re-established his credentials after he left Sweden following work permit problems, says: "Rantie will come in handy for Pirates when it comes to scoring goals, Tokelo is a great player and I think he will also add value to the Under-23 national side and Bafana Bafana when they see him."

Rantie may lack the reputation and hairstyle offered by Bongani Ndulula and the more established Pirates strikers but come Wednesday night’s Premier League clash and the Telkom Knock-Out quarter-final three days later – both against the reviving Moroka Swallows - he may just get the chance to prove his worth with McCarthy and Thulasizwe Mbuyane both doubtful.

For now though, he lives with the memory of that first Pirates strike: “It still feels like a dream. I don’t know how to explain it. Just amazing.”