Orlando Pirates co-coach Mandla Ncikazi has taken the blame for a poor season, saying the coaching staff failed to achieve the objectives set by the club.
Pirates put up a shoddy performance when they lost to SuperSport United during their last league match at the Lucas Moripe Stadium on Monday evening.
The Buccaneers, who are sitting on position six on the log table, will not get a CAF club competition spot next season. In the last term, Bucs finished third and qualified for the CAF Confederation Cup. They lost in the final to RS Berkane of Morocco.
It remains to be seen whether Pirates boss Irvin Khoza will keep Ncikazi and his co-coach Fadlu Davids in their positions for next season.
“It won’t be fair to pinpoint the challenges we had at this stage because everything I am going to say now will sound like an excuse. Now it’s about owning up,” said Ncikazi.
“As a coach, your responsibility and mandate are clear, and we did not fulfil that mandate. The result summed up not a very successful season by the team and one has to apologise for such a season, there is no justification of anything.
“We went to the final of the CAF Confederation Cup and one week after that, we had the opportunity to qualify for a CAF spot and we missed it by three minutes. On Monday, we had a chance to redeem ourselves and get a better position. To me, it is disappointing, it will not be fair to point out what should or could have been.
“We accept that we are in the position we are in, it happens and we accept the poor performance,” said Ncikazi after the United defeat.
“After a convincing 4-1 win over Maritzburg United, there were high levels of inconsistency and 14 draws. We dominated in possession and that’s a cause for concern and you need to check with a microscope how possible it is to be so dominant but still play 14 draws. I don’t think there is a draw we played with lesser possession, let’s have a self-reflection.
“As a coach, you know what’s expected of you and you know the objectives of the club when you come in. The bottom line is that we did not meet those objectives. As for me personally, for the failure of the whole group, I am not blaming anybody except myself.”
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