Al Ahly’s Mosimane thought Hunt would lead Bafana Bafana, not Chippa United

Al Ahly head coach Pitso Mosimane has stated he thought new Chippa United coach Gavin Hunt would be appointed Bafana Bafana tactician.

Mosimane picked out Hunt’s coaching achievements as one of the reasons that placed him in a good position to manage the national team, but instead, Safa filled the position with Hugo Broos after Molefi Ntseki was let go for failing to qualify for the African Cup of Nations finals in Cameroon.

“But he [Hunt] has done very well – he gave Wits a title after 100 years. And he has done well. Look at the trophies he has won,” Mosimane told South Africa’s Football Journalists’ Association (Safja) in an interview.

“He came to Amakhosi – yes‚ it didn’t go well‚ of course. I thought he would be a Bafana coach‚ to be honest with you. I thought he’d be given a chance to coach Bafana.

“But I read a lot of your things [in the press] and people talking and saying that probably his philosophy, his way of playing doesn’t suit the way Bafana play.

“But I don’t know whether we need the way Bafana play or we need to win.” 

There has been suggestions that the pragmatic style Hunt incorporates in the teams he has coached goes against how Safa wants Bafana Bafana to play.

Mosimane, though, played down such talk, citing the example of Hunt’s successor at Kaizer Chiefs, Stuart Baxter, who was twice appointed as the Bafana boss despite his tendency to set up his teams in a defensive manner.

“I don’t know what his philosophy is‚ and I don’t know what [Stuart] Baxter’s philosophy is. If we say Gavin doesn’t have the right philosophy‚ so why did Baxter leave [South Africa] twice and come for a third time if he didn’t have the right philosophy?” asked Mosimane.

“That’s not for me to comment, to be honest. I’m speaking about Gavin and no coach has won titles like him.”

Explaining how life is in Egypt, the PSL winner also claimed that Hunt can coach in North Africa: “I believe coach Gavin can coach in North Africa, no doubt about. But he opted for Chippa, that’s his life.

“North Africa, the life here is not playing golf and all that, there’s no life, forget about it,” continued Mosimane.

“I can’t go to a shopping mall, I’ve been there once in nine months and I was escorted by three bodyguards because the people look at football differently.

“Imagine having supporters that exceed the population of South Africa, 70-million, there’s no space, you can’t move. It’s crazy. But I think Hunt can come here.”

Hunt was appointed head coach Chippa United on Wednesday, who have had 13 coaches in the last five years and retained top-tier status through the play-offs in June.