This may not mean that you are not important but you must understand the pressure of guiding a team of Kaizer Chiefs calibre.

Personally and professionally, the break gave me enough opportunity to introspect and recollect my thoughts around how best I could serve you and deliver on the mandate to take Kaizer Chiefs to the top. I needed some quiet moment to dig deep into my resources by realigning my goals and checking if I have the right approach and the right psychological strength to achieve that. Obviously the league and the competition schedule are demanding and one can only succeed by retreating into a quiet environment that allows a thorough check on oneself.

Well, my schedule allowed me an opportunity to visit the United Arab Emirates together with Bobby, Jessica and Abdula to see if we could organize a training camp that includes playing a series of matches against top-notch clubs during the January 2008 off-season. During my stint as a coach, I noticed that a lot of European clubs use the Emirates for off-season training because of sophisticated infrastructure on training, hospitality and other factors. It was therefore important for us to find an opportunity to pit Kaizer Chiefs against the best clubs in the world and in a foreign environment for that matter.

The programme is intended to fulfil my intentions to build a formidable team for the future so it was important to search for such opportunities in the UAE. Apart from this, it was important for us to build strategic relationships with overseas clubs so that we could invest both reason and strategy in developing our youth structures. The trip was therefore successful and there would be many more in the future.

The break also gave me an opportunity to revisit all our matches to check on areas that needed attention and those that needed reinforcement.

The recent Telkom Knockout match against Moroka Swallows and several others that forced us to dig deep into our resources was top on my agenda as I carefully scrutinised our strengths and weaknesses. On the hindsight I had to consider those things that really drained my energy like the poor officiating that almost cost us many matches. All these have since worked to challenge me to assess the quality of material at Chiefs and the unfortunate results in many matches where the officials were either cruel or plainly erratic in most cases.

On the whole, I am happy that we have gained a lot of ground in addressing a lot of challenges including the players’ conduct, their attitude their mentality and many others. On the tactical side we have worked very hard to build their agility, their speed, sharpness and hunger for an exciting attack minded and highly entertaining style of play. I must say I am happy with their commitment for hard work, their discipline and their understanding that; it takes twice the effort to reach the top. Both the indoor and outdoor training have been hectic considering the grilling from Elsa Storm and recently the speed and agility coach. The mood is highly positive as evidenced in more laughter and fun during some of our sessions.

On a sad note though is that Jimmy Tau, Gerald Sibeko, David Mathebula, Jonathan Quartey, and Tshepo Bulu are still plagued by injuries.

The recent blow is that Itumeleng Khune has been obviously overworked following his inclusion in the U/23 National team. I am just concerned that he may have picked up some malaria infection during his stay in Ghana and may definitely be rested for the weekend against Platinum Stars. I am happy that Emille Baron is fit and may take his position in the team. Both Cyril Nzama and Siphiwe Tshabalala have fortunately returned from national duty without injuries. Thabo Mooki’s troubling hamstring muscle has fully healed and he is raring to go.

Whilst all this excites me, may I take an opportunity to let you in the understanding that all this is aimed at aligning the club to meet international standards of training and performance on the field. I have since done some research and found the following;

Firstly, I found out that some African teams spend an average of ten (10) hours of training during the week! Now this is too insufficient to address both the physical, psychological and technical ability of any player at a professional level. For us as coaches, the time is too limiting to even include training on tactical formations, endurance, and giving all players individual training that is necessary for any team.

International clubs like Chelsea, Real Madrid and others invest between 18 and 25 hours of training in a week. In addition, research shows that all your NBA Stars in Basketball, and the Grid Iron football in the USA invest between 20 and 25 hours of training. It is therefore not surprising to see those amazing shots and goals that have been practiced continuously before they are put on display during league and cup matches.

A player like David Beckham was reputed to be spending more time practising those amazing curling shots under a watchful eye of some tactical specialist. Besides this, international players are grilled in brainstorming sessions on the team’s approach and many elements that produced high levels of professionalism and good results.

Secondly, most overseas teams boast a Technical Team of specialists in different fields including, striking, goalkeeping, defence, fitness, and many other departments that create a fully-fledged outfit. Whereas in South Africa the average team has only two trainers, we are still short-changed to effectively build a well-oiled machine that fire in all cylinders during the match. Obviously it takes huge financial considerations to arrive at this level but I am confident that with insightful and well-structured plans, our teams are equally capable of achieving such milestones.

I have no doubt that there is tremendous talent in this country and at Kaizer Chiefs in particular, but my question remains; where is the creativity, the speed and the tenacity in the final goal box where it matters most? How come do we have low scoring margins compared to European leagues where the competition is of high calibre? What happens to players like Didier Drogba and the 80% of African players that made the entire National French Team when they reach the goal area?

Surely they possess some creativity, flair and precision in the box to finish off any opposition. They also know the right moment to burst with speed, to receive and deliver telling final passes that are easily transformed into goals. The accuracy of shots at goals is of high quality. Their composure and the knowledge of what to do with the ball is a given hence the satisfying score margins, the crowds at the stadium and the more investments into player’s value.

We should also not forget that the Premier League in the UK have players of African descent as their leading goal scorers! Surely they must have learnt something that we haven’t implemented in South Africa despite the richness of the talent locally!

Thirdly we must understand that most international teams introduce sixteen and seventeen year olds in the first team; whilst no one is even considered at age twenty-six as in our case. In Argentina and some European countries, coaches that spot talent early work with senior coaches to take the youngsters through a rigorous training programme that prepares them thoroughly for inclusion in the first team. Wayne Rooney, and Lionel Messi are a classical examples of a strategy to invest in youth for better results in the future!

Like I said earlier, we are working very hard to address these challenges albeit under a well planned short and long term period. Each practice session and game at Kaizer Chiefs is treated seriously to build towards one concerted goal to reach the top.

Whilst this is happening, may I also thank our supporters for their continued presence at our matches. We are obviously back in business starting this weekend against Platinum Stars in Rustenburg and following shortly against the tough SuperSport in the quarterfinals of the Telkom Knockout Cup. The month of November seems hectic considering that Moroka Swallows, Sundowns and Orlando Pirates are formidable opposition to meet in succession. Be that as it may, I am confident that our lads would emerge much better prepared and stronger.

I must assure our supporters that I do welcome their opinions and I would encourage them to write some more. They should however understand that often we as coaches are governed by rules and obligation to deliver results, something that demands that we follow and account to our instincts amidst thousands of opinion, suggestions, criticism and encouragements that are levelled against us.

May I also take this opportunity to wish our Chairman another good year as we recently celebrated his birthday! A win on Sunday would surely crown a good week indeed.

Let me pen off, and thank you for your continued support!

Muhsin Ertugral