Kaizer Chiefs legend Brian Baloyi slams 'low standards' despite CAF Confederation Cup qualification - 'You can’t be celebrating third position!'

Kaizer Chiefs are officially back on the African football scene, but club legend Brian Baloyi has warned the Naturena hierarchy that a CAF Confederation Cup ticket is no excuse to ignore the rot.

While 'Spider' welcomed Amakhosi’s return to the continental stage, he cautioned against letting a top-three finish mask the deep-seated issues plaguing the squad and technical bench.

The Glamour Boys locked in a third-place Premier Soccer League finish with two games to spare following Sunday’s 2-0 dispatching of Sekhukhune United.

But despite the Polokwane result, booking their plane tickets for next season, Baloyi insists that merely scraping into Africa's secondary competition still leaves the Soweto giants miles off their historic gold standard.

"You can’t be celebrating third position, it is taking your bar too low as a club and as fans," Baloyi said on the Soccer Beat podcast.

"Yes, it’s good to be back in the CAF [Confed Cup] and the top eight, it is good to be back in the conversation among the top three.

"But it is still a very long way to go to catch up to those top two teams [Pirates and Sundowns]."

According to the ex-Bafana Bafana goalie, rivals Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates remain far ahead of Chiefs in terms of quality and consistency.

To bridge that gap, Baloyi insists that the club must be ruthless in the transfer market and, more importantly, in the dugout.

He believes the current technical setup involving Khalil Ben Youssef and Cedric Kaze should not be considered for the long-term future if the club wants to regain its former glory.

"To make things right, there are a lot of tough decisions the club has to make with regard to players. The types of players they are going to sign, and the coach," Baloyi explained.

"For me again, it is not even a conversation or even a question of asking ‘are you keeping these coaches [Khalil Ben Youssef and Cedric Kaze]?’

"For me, it must never even be a question or a conversation. It is clear that Chiefs needs to get a top-class coach to take Chiefs back to being a top-class club."

Baloyi also pointed out a few playing positions Chiefs still need to beef up ahead of next season.

He noted that while the goalkeeping department has seen significant improvement, the hunt for a reliable backup remains a priority.

The legendary shot-stopper also turned his attention to the backline, where he believes an injection of elite experience is required to support the blossoming young talents currently in the squad.

Baloyi concluded his assessment by highlighting specific individuals while demanding more recruitment: "In defence, as much as they’ve kept many clean sheets, credit to Brandon Petersen, and a very young defender, in Aden McCarthy and [Bradley] Cross.

"Chiefs need to get a very reliable and experienced central defender."

For Baloyi, the work has only just begun if the Glamour Boys are to truly challenge for the domestic crown again.