Lane defends Riveiro's exit timing as Ahly rumours swirl

Departing Pirates coach is said to have already ‘signed a contract with a new club’

Retired Orlando Pirates defender Gavin Lane doesn’t think announcing the departure of coach Jose Riveiro before the end of the season had any effect on their recent performances.

Since the Buccaneers announced last month that Riveiro would leave, the team didn't get favourable results. They were dumped out of the CAF Champions League by Pyramids, lost ground in the Betway Premiership and were beaten by Kaizer Chiefs in the Nedbank Cup final.

Such has been the malaise in the Bucs camp that the club announced yesterday the match against Golden Arrows tonight (Orlando Stadium, 7.30pm) would be Riveiro's swansong, the coach leaving more than two weeks earlier than initially planned. The Spaniard has now been linked with a move to Egyptian giants Al-Ahly, with Pirates confirming in a statement yesterday he had already "signed for a new club".

“I don’t think it [the announcement of his departure] had any effect,” Lane told Sowetan on Monday. “I’ve played in matches where we knew it was the coach’s final season. [But] you want to go out and get trophies for the coach [so that] when he leaves, he would have won a lot of medals.

When you lose all these cups, you have to pick yourself up next season.Gavin Lane, Retired Orlando Pirates defender 

“When you lose all these cups, you have to pick yourself up next season. If it were in our era, the players would be united. We always wanted to win, no matter what was going on. That’s how it should be. Maybe now, players don’t play the way we used to.”

Lane feels Bucs have just been unfortunate and were anxious, as many expected them to do well in all the competitions they were in.

“It is one of those unfortunate things. I mean, look at what happened in the English Premier League. Obviously, Liverpool were also in the running for a whole lot of trophies and luckily they came away with one,” he said. “It’s football, it’s a strange game."

Meanwhile, Pirates confirmed that Mandla Ncikazi will be interim coach for the remaining matches after today's clash with Arrows. 

Fixtures

Today: Pirates v Arrows, Orlando (7.30pm)

Wednesday: Chippa v Sundowns, Buffalo City Municipality (7.30pm)

Saturday: Stellenbosch v SuperSport, Danie Craven (3pm); Bay v Arrows, King Zwelithini (3pm); Polokwane v CPT City, Old Peter Mokaba (3pm); Pirates v Galaxy, Orlando (3pm); Sekhukhune v Chiefs, Peter Mokaba (3pm); Gallants v Chippa, Seisa Ramabodu (3pm)

Sunday: Sundowns v Magesi, Loftus Versfeld (5.30pm).

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