Can Johnson add his name to Soweto derby history?
Cavin Johnson will hope to add his name to a short list of South African coaches who have tasted Soweto Derby success since the formation of the Premier Soccer League 27 years ago.
Johnson has been installed as interim coach at Kaizer Chiefs and will be hoping for a derby victory over Orlando Pirates to win over fans of the AmaKhosi early in his tenure.
He does not have great record against The Buccaneers down the years though, with three wins in 18 previous meetings with his various clubs.
He will be up against Spanish coach Jose Riveiro, who tasted his first derby success in the Nedbank Cup semifinal played between the sides in May. He had lost his first two games before that.
There have been 22 wins for Chiefs and 21 for Pirates since the formation of the PSL ahead of the 1996/97 season, but only eight of those 43 victories have been engineered by South African coaches down the years.
The most successful have been Eric Tinkler, who led Pirates to two wins in the 2015/16 season, and Arthur Zwane, who did the league double over Pirates in the last campaign but was axed at the end of the season.
Roger de Sa (2013/14) and Fadlu Davids (2020/21), who was standing in for the German Josef Zinnbauer, are the other successful South Africans on the Pirates side.
The co-coaching team of Doctor Khumalo & Donald Khuse led Chiefs to a Derby win in 2002/03, while the only other South African to steer the AmaKhosi to success aside from Zwane was Gavin Hunt in 2020/21.
Admittedly, Chiefs have largely hired foreign coaches all through that period, though Steve Komphela had close to three years in charge at Naturena, but never tasted a Derby win.
The tactician with the most Derby successes in the PSL is former Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter,
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