My humble opinion...Krol...the Duke...Roslee...Leal

I think Pirates did well last season, but could’ve been better. Yes, they did the treble, but not convincingly. Krol played very basic, predictable football, which in my humble opinion would not have been a success going forward. In addition, he left the country without meeting with the Pirates officials to discuss the way forward. I guess the writing was on the wall long before the treble.

 

With regards to the succession planning at Orlando Pirates, I’m not sure what talks were held. However, in hindsight, CR would not have moved from being at the helm at Ajax to playing second fiddle at Orlando without being told he is the future leader of the Buccaneers. Having said that, I did not see him emerge from Krol’s shadow last season, so yes, I DO think he was hard done by the Duke. I would have proffered seeing or hearing of his different ideas which went against or bettered those of Krol because as it stands, he did not have better ideas than Krol.

 

I read the Duke’s reasoning, citing that he had requested a technical report after the season, which he did not receive. Further,  he added that although Pirates had a successful season, if you analyzed their success, you will see that:-

• the league was a “fluke”. Ajax lost it as opposed to Pirates winning it.
• Pirates struggled against a first division Black Leopards who pushed them all the way in the Nedbank.
• Pirates struggled against a Swallows team which had earned 2 point in 10 league games to win the MTN.

I don’t fully agree with that reasoning, I believe that the league is a marathon, and the team that shows character from day one, a team that digs deep to earn a point when the supporters had given up (the Chiefs, Amazulu and Santos games in particular) and a team that fights to earn a crucial victory in the last game against Arrows when the entire season depends on it. I believe that that is a championship side! I also believe that it was Rudi Krol that instilled that fighting spirit, which was amongst his traits as a footballer.

Cup finals are always tough, irrespective of the teams, irrespective of the league they are competing and irrespective of their league form, just ask Chiefs about Baroka FC…

 

Finally, let me give my humble opinion on the new man at the Pirates helm, Leal. When we first got a glimpse of him at Amazulu a few seasons ago, I was very impressed with the quick attacks, compact midfield and the fluid defense that Amazulu had at the time. The challenge though,  was that because of the  fluidity of the defense, they leaks a few goals. The same was observed at Swallows…with that, I can only hope that he has plans to maintain the good defensive record which ensured that Pirates were successful in the 2010/2011 season.