Can Tembo survive the storm?

Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter

ZIMBABWEAN coach Kaitano Tembo could be facing an uncertain future at SuperSport United after it emerged that the South African Premiership football club may consider restructuring their technical team at the end of the season.

Reports from South Africa have suggested that the SuperSport board will sit at the end of the current campaign to review the 51-year-old coach’s performance.

Tembo, who is in his final two years of his contract, has been at the helm of the club since 2018, winning the MTN8 silverware for the Pretoria-based side along the way.

The Citizen newspaper of South Africa reported yesterday that “SuperSport United might consider restructuring their technical team at the start of the next season, but it is unclear whether they would hire an experienced technical advisor to work with head coach Kaitano Tembo, get him a co-head coach or hire a new coach altogether.”

The Zimbabwean is one of the longest serving members at the Pretoria-based three-time South African Premiership champions as he has been with the club for the past 23 years.

He has been a loyal servant for the Tshwane-based outfit. Tembo arrived at SuperSport from Zimbabwean football giants Dynamos as a player in 1999 and later took over the captain’s armband.

He decided to venture into coaching when he hung up his boots in 2006, after a largely successful stint with the club.

The club repaid the service he gave them by investing in his coaching career which started with the juniors with whom he won the 2008 Under-17 Engen Cup and the Lagos International Cup in 2010.

“It is not that the team does not have any faith in Tembo, he is the son of the team and will forever be part of the fabric that makes up Matsatsantsa A Pitori,” a source told South Africa’s The Citizen newspaper.

“At the same time, we have to understand that we are regarded as one of the top teams in the country and our performances in recent seasons do not reflect that entirely.

“The board will sit at the end of the season and go through the coach’s report and take it from there. But rest assured that there will be some changes in the club next season.”

Tembo took over the coaching reins at SuperSport from Eric Tinkler in 2018. In his first season, Tembo reached the MTN8 final but succumbed to a defeat at the expense of Cape Town City.

Tembo, however, finally landed his maiden triumph as the head coach at the start of the following season, lifting the MTN8 by beating Highlands Park in the final.

The league title has, however, remained beyond reach for Tembo and the three-time South African champions. They finished sixth in his maiden season before settling for fifth place in the last two editions.

SuperSport have also not found it easy this season after losing a number of key players. They are currently sitting eighth on the log standings with 26 points from 19 outings. They are a massive 22 points adrift of log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns with 11 games remaining for them.

SuperSport suffered a disappointing 0-2 home defeat to Royal AIM last weekend.

This was preceded by a 1-2 defeat at Maritzburg United and these two losses have fueled fresh speculations over Tembo’s future at the club.

However, this is not the first time that the South African media have speculated about Tembo’s future. The Zimbabwean, who enjoys a legendary status at the club, has enjoyed warm backing from the management, in particular the club’s chief executive officer Stan Matthews.

“Even though we’ve had a very bad run recently, Kaitano has done an excellent job of transitioning a team that plays more players under the age of 24 than any other club in the PSL,” Matthews told KickOff magazine when the speculations about Tembo’s future at the club started last year.

“Kaitano has invested a significant amount of game-time into our younger players, as we did with Ronwen at age 19, Tebza (Teboho Mokoena), (Luke) Fleurs and (Sipho) Mbule at age 18, and others.

“This will pay off for us as a club next season and beyond. So, while we are obviously disappointed with the way we’ve slipped out of contention (for the league title) after an excellent start, we also see a tremendous amount of progress in the club as a whole.

“I don’t know why some of the media want to put pressure on Kaitano, when the facts now are that, we cannot win the league and we also cannot be relegated.”