In the world of culinary delights, it is often said that a lot of chefs will give out recipes with an ingredient missing or other such thing, just to keep it from tasting exactly like the dish on the menu or to bamboozle both the diners and their adversaries.
This could be happening at Kaizer Chiefs, who have had no off-season like the current one. While the fans were excited and on cloud nine after the arrival of their messiah Nasreddine Nabi, the very same fans are now frustrated by the censorship that seem to have befallen Mount Naturena, in the south of the Reef.
Chicken or beef? Chef Nabi is simply not giving away his recipes or what will be on the menu when the season finally gets underway. The Amakhosi die-hard supporters will just have to continue salivating and drooling at the looming element of surprise coming their way.
Nabi won six trophies with Young Africans FC in Tanzania and Chiefs fans wanted him by hook or crook. But since his arrival six weeks ago, there has been very little information communicated by the club either to, or for the overzealous supporters who are dying to find out what Nabi has been cooking with the boys.
There was huge excitement in the build-up to the inaugural Toyota Cup against Yanga in Bloemfontein. And after a 4-0 spanking from the Tanzanians, Nabi has opted for a low-profile kind of an approach.
He must have been shell-shocked as to the magnitude of the work that lies ahead and how far back the most successful football club in SA has fallen behind in the last 10 years. It will help him to zip up and to roll up his sleeves in this mammoth, almost impossible, task that he has taken – maybe he is worried that he could have bitten more than he could chew.
It was clear after the Yanga thrashing that the team needs experienced campaigners to provide balance. Chiefs got an extended break, due to them not qualifying for the MTN8, and that should have given the coach more time to work on his squad and to beef up the squad with some reinforcements.
But Nabi was still upbeat after the Bloemfontein razzmatazz: “It’s only a friendly game, we didn’t lose any points, so we’re taking it as a learning curve, to get to know the team, especially its a weaknesses and strengths. It was a good opportunity to evaluate the players, the dynamics of the team.
“It’s a friendly game, for the people who know football, the reason, in friendly games, it’s not very important. Okay, I don’t want a losing mentality. But if you lose, and conceded four goals, it’s one friendly game. This is not [official] football.
“The game of today helped me so much, so much. Because it showed me the level of my players collectively and individually. I’m very happy after losing. I’m not happy about losing many games, any exercise in training I don’t win, I’m not happy because I’m a winner, I have a winning character,” he added.
The advent of social media has shown how hungry people are for information and content – it proves my theory that in decades gone by, people were just lazy to buy and read newspapers.
Now, the easiest way to consume information via cellphones and internet has changed the world completely. Chiefs fans cannot wait for official content and news from the club – and via bogus, unverified podcasts, websites and other platforms that have flooded social media, they are getting desperate and they are left to speculate.
I urge them to remain calm and let the new coach cook up a storm in the kitchen while they get their taste buds ready to indulge – it seems like the wait will be worth it.
Good analysis and journalism, keep up the good work.