Durban - The curtain has come down on the 2022/23 season as all 16 DStv Premiership clubs reaped the rewards of a gruelling 30-match tussle for success.
For two Soweto clubs there will be pressure to build on positive recent success, while for one, they have to dig themselves out of another pit of despair.
Orlando Pirates and Swallows FC will be revelling their achievements in the coming months with a trophy already in the cabinet for the former and a top eight finish secured for the latter.
Kaizer Chiefs, on the other hand, will feel like the odd one out as celebrations begin in Soweto and will be scratching their heads ahead of what is expected to be a crucial off-season for the club.
Amakhosi’s drive to ‘Reclaim The Glory’ hit a speed bump as the appointed driver of a supposed new-look Chiefs rounded off the season needing security personnel to ensure his safety.
Head coach Arthur Zwane’s debut season saw the club finish in fifth (same as last season), knocked out of the MTN8 by AmaZulu at the semi-final stage and eliminated by arch-rivals Pirates at the same stage in the Nedbank Cup.
At a different club, during a different time and maybe in a different world, the events of this season might be viewed as positive steps towards eventual triumph but unfortunately not in Naturena.
Zwane will have to digest his contribution to yet another trophyless campaign that also saw the club fail to return to continental competition.
The Black and White section of Soweto has already lifted the MTN8 crown, qualified for next season’s CAF Champions League and could make it a double if they finish the job against Sekhukhune in the Nedbank Cup final on Saturday.
Buccaneers head coach Jose Riveiro has had a first season to remember on South African shores as positivity surrounds his project at Pirates, with a large majority identifying his side as having the best chance of halting the dominance of Mamelodi Sundowns.
From avoiding relegation through the promotion-relegation play-offs last season to sealing a place in next season’s MTN8 for just the second time in 11 years, the Swallows turnaround is something to be commended.
It took the firing of Dylan Kerr and Ernst Middendorp for the club to realise they already had the right man for the squad in Musa Nyatama, who swapped his playing strip for the warmer tracksuits and comfortable bench and led the club to what has turned out to be a successful season.
@ScribeSmiso