When Sandile Zungu bought AmaZulu FC in 2020, the astute businessman emerged as a new ambitious club boss who would not allow the KwaZulu-Natal-based side to be synonymous with relegation or tolerate any mediocrity.
In his maiden season in charge, there were loft ambitions that the sleeping giant from the Zulu kingdom would finally arise from their slumber.
This after they set records under the tutelage of former coach Benni McCarthy.
For the first time in their Premier Soccer League (PSL) history, AmaZulu finished second in the DStv Premiership to qualify for the CAF Champions League.
In the following season, McCarthy led Usuthu to the group stages of the prestigious continental club competition.
Juggling the Champions League with domestic football proved challenging and led to McCarthy being shown the door by Zungu as the latter feared AmaZulu would fail to qualify for the top eight in the Premiership.
While reaching the MTN8 final in 2022, results have been underwhelming things in failing to meet Zungu’s lofty ambitions of being a top-four team leading to several coaching changes including Brandon Truter, Romain Folz and Ayanda Dlamini.
The men from Durban finished the season in a disappointing 11th position under Spanish mentor Pablo Franco Martin.
When reflecting on the four years in the driving seat, Zungu admitted not being entirely happy with how things have gone although there have been proud moments.
“Our involvement as the Zungu family in AmaZulu FC goes back to October 2020 and we have completed four seasons. And we are here to stay, we are here for the long haul and our investment in AmaZulu was never a short-term undertaking,” Zungu said.
“It was not an undertaking born just out of love for soccer, but it was an investment born out of strong affiliate with the brand.
“Because we knew what it means to the people of KwaZulu-Natal, to the nation of AmaZulu especially, and to people who grew up supporting this wonderful brand, who knows that we are the oldest team in the PSL,” Zungu added.
“During the past four years, we have achieved quite a lot as a team. We have had many highs and similarities, we have had quite a number of disappointing experiences as a team and we take stock.
“And in some cases, we take full responsibility for the mistakes made. In other cases, we observe how we have been let down by factors we cannot control.”
The president of the club admits something ought to happen to satisfy his great and loftier ambitions of seeing the club challenge Mamelodi Sundowns’ dominance on the local front, qualify for the Champions League again and feature in the FIFA Club World Cup.
To remedy the situation and steer the ship back in that direction, Zungu has decided to return to the forefront and be more hands-on.
After all, it was Napoleon Bonaparte who said, ‘If you want something done, do it yourself’ and it appears Zungu is heeding that advice.
“Someone may say I took the foot off the pedal in the last two years because I had other commitments, this season I’m going to be back in the trenches,” he said.
“The accomplishments, I will take credit for them and the failures I will also shoulder them. A lot more will be expected of me to be on the frontline.”
Probably Zungu ‘taking control or being more visible’ was quite evident in the president addressing the media alone.
Before the previous campaign, Usuthu made a few changes in their managerial position when general manager Tshepiso Mofokeng and team manager Qedusizi Dlamini left the club.
Zungu feels his leadership qualities and experience in the business world are what could be crucially needed for Usuthu to thrive.
“I’m accountable to the board of AmaZulu FC, I’m chairman of the board and the president of the club and I get asked for the amount of money we have put in, who takes responsibility for certain things, and I cannot escape accountability,” Zungu said.
“There’s a great deal of expectations from me to account for how we spent our money and what sort of return we get for that money.
“And you can’t do that by just pointing fingers, someone has got to do the job. Roll up your sleeves and get into the trenches. Unfortunately, soccer is that kind of game.
“If you are out of sight, things go horribly pear-shaped. If you are in the trenches, you can intervene timeously on issues. So, for me, it’s a case of I’m expected to provide leadership and I will provide that leadership.
“You know, there’s nothing that has gone horribly wrong, absolutely not. I think we are on the right track with things that are being put in place, but I will be a lot more visible.”
“That’s what the players have demanded from me when I engaged with them.”
Though he had a terrible start to his coaching stint in South Africa, Martin still has the backing of his boss Zungu who feels Usuthu’s struggles sometimes were because of poor officiating.
“We now have Cijimpi, Pablo Franco Martin, who is our head coach, and we believe we have the right man for the job,” Zungu said.
“If you look at last season, we had 36 points at the end of the season of which we could have easily added another 14 points if we had been officiated justly.
“We are on record that we were dealt with unfairly. If we had got maximum points (in some of those games), we could have easily been a top-four team.”
However, things are not going to be easy for the Spaniard going forward as Zungu will not settle for anything less than continental football qualification.
🟢 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗬𝗘𝗥𝗦 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗣𝗨𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗚 💬
— AmaZulu FC (@AmaZuluFootball) July 15, 2024
The first team has returned from the pre-season camp in Joburg. Coach Aitor gave us an update on what went down at the camp.#Indlulamithi#HebeUsuthu#UsuthuTogether pic.twitter.com/ilH3QgS17u
