Tournament News
Hunt was the readers' pick
2010-06-30 06:57
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Rob Houwing, Sport24 chief writer
Cape Town – Pitso Mosimane’s appointment as new coach of Bafana Bafana appears imminent, but would he have been the public choice?
It is a question worth asking because Sport24 readers, at least, appear to have been much more squarely in the camp of Gavin Hunt, the man considered to have been the other realistic candidate in SAFA’s thoughts as successor to Brazilian Carlos Alberto Parreira.
It has been widely reported that Mosimane will finally be nailed down for the job on Thursday.
Only a few days ago, though, a poll on our site revealed that Hunt, who has steered SuperSport United to three Absa Premiership titles on the trot and been a TV studio pundit during the World Cup, would have been the preferred pick by some distance.
The former Hellenic right back, who would have learnt many of his managerial skills under the tutelage of the late Budgie Byrne, secured 1808 votes to Mosimane’s 607.
A further 391 people surveyed said they favoured Bafana placing trust in another “expert from abroad”.
But Mosimane appears to have been decided upon, with “continuity” cited as a key reason considering that he was assistant to Parreira and is believed to be popular with the nucleus of the Bafana squad.
Kagiso-born, the 45-year-old former Jomo Cosmos, Sundowns and Bafana (four caps) midfielder also managed SuperSport United, between 2001 and 2007, and held the national caretaker reins briefly in 2006, between the tenures of Ted Dumitru and then Parreira’s first in charge.
