Durban City chairman Farook Kadodia has told new coach Gavin Hunt to steer the club into a top-eight finish in the Betway Premiership in the new season.
Hunt last week replaced Simo Dladla, who left the club after guiding them to promotion in the Motsepe Foundation Championship.
Kadodia is optimistic that with veteran Hunt in charge, they can finish in the top eight.
“Well, all the clubs desire to be in the top three and Gavin’s mandate is to finish in the top eight; that’s it,” Kadodia told Sowetan.
Durban are trying to strengthen the club ahead of the new season and Kadodia said they will finalise the team once they have signed the new players. He confirmed that Ernst Middendorp is the director of football at the club.
Hunt admitted that time is running out to assemble the squad, with less than three weeks before the new season starts and with rival teams already in the middle of their preseason games.
Durban have so far only signed Brooklyn Poggenpoel on a free transfer after he parted ways with SuperSport United. Darren Keet and Thulani Hlatshwayo are close to joining and will be among the several new signings.
“That’s the situation I’m in,” Hunt said. “We can’t be like these big clubs who can buy whoever they want. We have to pick up what we can.
“We have to look at the players who have been released. That’s where we fish. But we don’t have time on our side any more.”
Hunt hopes to finalise the team within the next few days.
“We need to sign and we are working hard every day. So we will see what we got. We have a tiny squad, so we need to strengthen the team.”
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