Chickelday: Orlando Pirates rope in ex-Tottenham Hotspur and Queens Park Rangers coach

• Pirates have beefed up their technical team
• Former Tottenham and QPR coach Chickelday is the new addition
• He arrives with a record of having previously worked with Premier League stars

WHAT HAPPENED? Former Tottenham and Queens Park Rangers academy coach Scott Chickelday is the man Riveiro has entrusted to fix their problems in attack. Chickelday is a specialist forwards coach who has recently been working with Premier League stars.

His clients include England and Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins, Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott and Chelsea attacker Xavier Simons who is on loan at Hull City. He has been taking the players for private practice sessions and working on their finishing.

WHAT CHICKELDAY SAID: “Wow! What a first day with Orlando Pirates. Never felt so welcomed at a club,” Chickelday announced. “Some great people within this set-up and some fantastic players. Really excited to be working within this fantastic club." 🏴‍☠️ 🇿🇦.

THE BIGGER PICTURE: Chickelday faces the huge task of turning things around for the Soweto giants in attack. Pirates have been struggling upfront this season in what is in contrast to their defence which has vastly improved. Despite winning this season’s MTN8, Pirates’ attacking frailties have been glaring.

To highlight their struggles upfront, their top goalscorer in the Premier Soccer League campaign is Monnapule Saleng who has two goals in six games.

The Buccaneers are facing problems upfront despite having a wide pool of forwards to select from like Bienvenu Eva Nga, Zakhele Lepasa, Kermit Erasmus, Vincent Pule, Kwame Peprah and Terrence Dzvukamanja who has not been given playing opportunities by Riveiro.

They also have Evidence Makgopa and Ndumiso Mabena who are yet to play official matches this season.

WHAT NEXT FOR CHICKELDAY: Having started work on Thursday, it means Checkelday has two days to work with Pirates forwards before they visit Cape Town City for Saturday’s league game.

The Soweto giants begin the second half of the league campaign after the City game which is their 15th match of the season.