Kaizer Chiefs Marketing Director Jessica Motaung has called for patience with coach Nasreddine Nabi while urging the club’s fans to behave during the Soweto derby on Saturday.
Chiefs go into the derby as the underdogs following an inconsistent first half of the season that has seen them win six, lose five while drawing three of their 14 league matches to leave them in fifth place on the table with 21 points.
Meanwhile, Pirates are enjoying a good season that saw them win the MTN8, make it to the CAF Champions League quarter-final while they are second on the table, six points behind Mamelodi Sundowns with two matches in hand.
Nabi on a long-term project
However, Jessica says Chiefs fans should be patient with Nabi, who arrived last July, as he is working on a long-term project whose results will take time to be seen.
“We made big changes at the start of the season. We have to be fair. We knew this was a process,” she told SowetanLive.
“We are clear that we are not here to hit the ground running… this is a long-term investment. We know that it takes time to gel and make things work. Our supporters need to be patient and work with us. We are confident that the technical team is working hard and they have our full backing.”
Will Chiefs fans behave if they lose?
While she has backed Nabi to turn around the club’s fortunes, Jessica is also mindful that a negative result in the derby could see fans turn on the coach and his team, like they have already done twice this season, leading to bad behaviour that saw the club sanctioned.
It is on this background that she is calling on the Amakhosi supporters to be on their best behaviour at the FNB Stadium on Saturday.
“First, we urge our fans to always be responsible. We condemn violence and we hope that we are not going to witness it in our games this season. We have platforms to engage with supporters' branches to make sure we talk about what's expected from the fans in games,” she added.
Chiefs last beat Pirates in February 2023 and are looking to end the two-year pain, having lost three straight matches against their bitter rivals since then.
