Orlando Pirates assistant coach Mandla Ncikazi doesn’t think their transfer policy has anything to do with their failure to win the league in recent seasons.
Pirates — who’ve finished as runners-up to Mamelodi Sundowns for three consecutive seasons now — have mainly been recruiting potential rather than fully fledged stars in recent years, with many feeling this has been the main reason they’ve been nearly men.
“In all our team meetings, there has never been a highlight of how important it is to win the league, and I think a bigger question to ask is whether the policy the club has has the capacity to win the league,” Ncikazi said at a press conference at Rand Stadium on Tuesday.
“I don’t think maybe I’m the relevant person to respond to that, but with the team we have, that has won almost against every team, I don’t think the policy has anything [to do] with the players that we have.”
In the current Pirates squad, the 35-year-old Deon Hotto is the only player who’s won the league title in SA before. Even so, Ncikazi is adamant their players are capable of finally winning what would be their first championship since the 2011/12 season.
Hotto won the league with the now-defunct Bidvest Wits in the 2016/17 term. “If they have the capacity to score 50 goals with five games to go, where the only team of Pirates that has ever scored more than that is the team that scored 52 [in the 2004/05 term under Kostadin Papic], [then] I don’t think the question is suitable currently,” he said.
Pirates are now at the top of the table, enjoying a two-point lead over perennial league champions, Mamelodi Sundowns, who have two games in hand.
Bucs’ immediate focus is on Sunday’s Soweto derby against their traditional archrivals, Kaizer Chiefs, at FNB Stadium (3pm). “This match is going to be highly competitive based on the fact that both teams have been in good form of late,” said Ncikazi.
“Both teams have won five of their last seven games. Twenty-nine goals scored by our team, 12 by the opponent... They’ve conceded only three goals and we’ve conceded four, so from that sample, it already shows that margins will be narrow.”
Sowetan
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