Johannesburg – Bafana Bafana all-time top scorer and current AmaZulu coach Benni McCarthy always exudes a winning mentality.
He says in AmaZulu they are waking up a sleeping giant. He speaks passionately about their plan to bring Usuthu back to the glory days and to go toe to toe with the big boys in the PSL. McCarthy has turned Ama-Zulu into a formidable side since his arrival in December.
Usuthu are sitting on position five and are launching a serious threat to the front-runners in the PSL.
Two months after taking over the job, McCarthy was rewarded with the Coach of the Month accolade for January/ February and was even congratulated by the “Special One” Jose Mourinho, now head coach at Tottenham Hotspur.
“The giant is waking up. I am not here to play. I want to win things,” McCarthy told Sunday World.
“I am here for the long run. I am not a journeyman or someone who will be hopping from club to club. Next season, we need to do some damage because the sleeping giant is awake now.
“Ask yourself why are all the cup finals in the PSL taken to KwaZulu-Natal? The support is incredible and most of the people support Kaizer Chiefs or Orlando Pirates because of their successes. You know the Zulu nation is loyal and passionate. Now with AmaZulu, the pride is coming back. I can tell you that the likes of Chiefs and other big teams are going to lose their fans.”
The former Ajax Amsterdam, FC Porto, Blackburn Rovers and West Ham United striker says that the secret behind Usuthu’s revival is that club president Sandile Zungu allows everyone the freedom to enjoy their role at the club.
“I am very fortunate because I am the only coach in the PSL who was allowed to bring in his technical team – no other team in the league allows that to happen. With this, there’s loyalty, there’s no backstabbing and we do not have trust issues. This has created a nice working environment because we work as a team. “I can never do it all alone, that’s why I brought in Siyabonga Nomvethe, Moeneeb Josephs and other important role players in the technical team.”
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