Johannesburg - Kaizer Chiefs stalwart, Siphiwe Tshabalala, said the team’s supporters should look ahead to the upcoming season with optimism, believing that they will break their two-season trophy drought.
Tshabalala said he was aware of a similar promise they made before the start of the 2016/17 season, which did not materialised come the end of the season, but said he hopes with persistence they will replace sorry with joy in fans’ faces.
“It’s hurting to go a season without any trophies. I’m here to create memories with my team-mates, I want to win trophies and make history with them and then individual accolades after. Nonetheless, it happened (that they did not win trophies) and I’ll take it. Hopefully we come back stronger next season and compete for everything on offer,” Tshabalala said.
“We made a promise and it never happened. But it has to happen eventually. We need to persist until we get it right. We need to make it happen not only by promising but through our performance as well,” he continued.
Contemplating the past season, “Shabba” said the current squad is good enough to compete, however there needs to be more determination and vigour.
“We need to up our game. We need to give our best, week in, week out. The common goal is to bring success at Kaizer Chiefs. We conceded a lot of goals, which according to our standards were weak. We didn’t convert our chances. It’s a challenge that we need to rectify as a collective. There is talent in the team. We need to guide and mentor the youngsters, as senior players. One of my responsibilities is to help them. Whoever comes to the team, we’d welcome them and work well with them,” said Tshabalala.
He was speaking after the team’s end of the season awards ceremony where he received five awards including player of the season, top goal scorer and fans’ player of the season.
Ramahlwe Mphahlele was another big winner of the night, also with five awards which include players’ player of the season, fair play, online player and two monthly awards.