Benni McCarthy brushing off Ajax Cape Town this week was a kick to the klokke after a brutal run of recent blows for Cape football.
Two Fridays ago, Andries Ulderink quit the Urban Warriors in defiance of CEO Ari Efstathiou after leading the club to the top of the NFD as they push for promotion to the PSL.
The behind-the-scenes drama at Ikamva is tense, with Technical Director Hans Vonk also quitting the club on Thursday following his suspension.
And that was all followed up last Thursday by Ajax becoming the first Cape casualty in the Nedbank Cup, to TS Sporting.
The next three Round-of-32 defeats each became more painful.
Stellenbosch followed Ajax out of the cup on Friday, losing on penalties to Maritzburg United.
Then on Sunday, Cape Town City, the Mother City’s glamour boys, were humbled by Mbombela United.
That 1-0 defeat just shows what a shambles the club is.
JOYLESS SEASON: Cape Town City have been struggling this season. Picture: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix
The competence doesn’t match the ambition as they went down to a side struggling to stay in the NFD.
Just how bad are things when the team can’t be bothered to get up for a piece of silverware and a cash bonus for winning just five matches in a row?
Against a club a whole 21 log places below them, City basically had a bye to the last 16, but couldn’t put in the minimum amount of effort.
Of all the Cape clubs, they have provided the least joy to their fans this season.
Then on Tuesday, Zizwe United were bundled out.
They were unbeaten atop the Western Cape stream of the ABC Motsepe Motsepe League coming into that match.
But they made it clear ahead of the clash that they were focused on their push for NFD promotion.
Still the disappointment of the Mother City’s swak Nedbank Cup run is nothing compared to despair for the future of the game in the Cape.
The revelation that Benni turned down the chance to return to management in Cape Town sort of hit harder with the local game in a downward spiral.
The rumours had been going around that the Urban Warriors were in discussions to replace Ulderink, but the club refused to confirm or deny contact with Benni.
That, though, didn’t stop the former Citizens boss from telling the BBC that the Ajax job wasn’t for him.
Now I get all Benni’s considerations. He has a young family in Scotland and his son is probably starting to roll and trying to crawl now. And Ari can as overbearing as John Comitis.
Why would he come back to South Africa to coach a team in the NFD?
Well, in a very real sense, he is the man responsible for Ajax’s existence.
His sale from Seven Stars to Ajax Amsterdam in 1997 saw the birth of the Ikamva club, through the clubs entering into a technical partnership that has seen Ikamva develop some of SA's brightest and best.
Yes, I hear you, but Ajax will never fulfill his ambitions to win league titles.
A HORROR RUN: Ajax Cape Town gutted after their Nedbank Cup exit. Picture: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix
But at Ajax, he can show to the world that he is a real coach.
After all, who wouldn’t feel pride in seeing a player who you trained become the best they can be.
It makes me recall how Benni would lament that his mother didn’t make more McCarthys like him to score goals.
This would have been the chance for Benni to put his head and unearth those gems.
There must be a new Benni somewhere in SA.
And who better to find them and polish up those rough diamonds than the man himself?
He could have been the one finding talents to follow in his path and maybe even mend the rift between Ikamva and the Dutch.
Mense can say what they want about the Dutch giants being has-beens.
But they are an institute in world football.
They produce the top Dutch players, only last year being second away from a Champions League final thanks to young talents like Frenkie de Jong, Matthijs de Ligt and Donny van de Beek.
Not only that, but they are a gateway to Europe for players from other continents like Finidi George, Nwankwo Kanu, Sunday Oliseh and later Luis Suarez.
Benni could have kept that conveyor belt going which saw Steven Pienaar and Thulani Serero establish themselves in the European game.
However, it’s the talent in the Cape who will be denied the opportunity to be trained by and inspired by a player who has won Europe’s top prizes
Yeah, with Cape football hitting those lows, it was a real kick in the balls of our game by Benni.