Local football’s worst-kept secret finally came into the open with the appointment this week of Kostadin Papic as Kaizer Chiefs coach to replace Ernst Middendorp.
In typical style, the club and the coach denied their public meetings while incumbent coach Middendorp was going through his worst period at Chiefs.
But Papic inadvertently let the cat out of the bag by telling Kick Off magazine’s website that he had not ”officially” spoken to Chiefs.
Papic’s first assignment is an encounter with Bloemfontein Celtic, in Durban, on Saturday night.
With seven games to the end of the season, the Chiefs-Papic deal can at best be seen as very early pre-season preparation.
Not even Papic can transform the ”pragmatic” style — a work ethic and team spirit that Chiefs had relied on throughout their German coach’s tenure — into the fearless gun-slinging approach he employed at Orlando Pirates over the same period as Middendorp’s stint at Chiefs.
It is not every day that a Chiefs team would trot on to a Southern African pitch wondering whether they would have the majority of the crowd rooting for them.
But by taking the match to Durban, Chiefs have ensured the possibility of the green-and-white-clad supporters overrunning theirs.
Perhaps they hope their long-suffering supporters will see in Papic the turning of a new leaf and forgive and forget the embarrassment their side has caused them, especially since the start of this year.
While Celtic fans never seem bothered about what happens on the pitch, the Chiefs faithful will be crying out for a change that goes further than just the appointment of the club’s former captain, Johannes ”Ryder” Mofokeng, and Papic.
They will demand that Amakhosi swiftly return to the days when the likes of Celtic wouldn’t dare be cocky in the face of the Soweto powerhouse.
And, for this to happen, the fans will be looking to Papic. And Saturday night is therefore the premiere of the Kostadin Papic show.