Gavin Hunt's eye for young talent leads him to PSL tittle

Bidvest Wits head coach Gavin Hunt, has guided the Braamfontein based outfit to their first Premier Soccer League title. The students have proven this season that they can be the team for the big occasion and one of the most dangerous team in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) alongside African giants and champions, Mamelodi Sundowns.

Gavin Hunt has won the Premier Soccer League tittle four times now with three of them coming from Supersport United during 2007/2008, 2009/2010, 2010/2011 seasons and one coming from Bidvest Wits in the 2016/2017 season. He has proven to be one of the most successful coaches in South African football alongside Pitso Mosimane, Clive Barker, Gordon Igesund, Ted Dumitru and Jeff Butler.  

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It is confirmed that Bidvest Wits are the Premier Soccer League champions for the 2016/2017 season thanks to their players for remaining consistent in the top level of football because it's not easy. It comes with a lot of responsibility, a lot of pressure and that never die attitude to win the league. We must remember that Bidvest Wits are not a buying team as the "Big three" namely Mamelodi Sundowns, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates.

We must not forget that in this era we are in now, when it comes to football, there is no such thing as the "big teams and small teams", the likes of Bidvest Wits, Cape Town City and Supersport United have proven that it's all about the development of the team, mentality of the players and having a good coach who knows how to select his players for certain games and be able to rotate them.

citizen.co.za

Gavin Hunt believes in young talent and that has worked for him. Let's be honest, Gavin Hunt has never bought a big name player in his entire life, the likes of phakamani Mahlambi and Phumulani Ntshangase, were not big name players when they first signed under "The Clever Boys" but now he has turned them into superstars.

In South Africa we do have a lot of talent in football but those players are not recognized due
to their disadvantaged background. We have a lot of football academies in South Africa and we must remember that an academy its not like a development where you don't pay anything you just play football until you get promotion to the open side of the team.

BidvestWits.co.za

In  football academies, young football players have to pay trialing fees and monthly payments because it's a football business. You pay to show them that you are talented but what happens if you can't pay the trialing fee and the premiums? I assure you that you will kiss your dream goodbye. I personally thank Gavin Hunt for believing in the young talent, we definitely need that in South African football. We must remember that talent alone it's not enough, it needs someone who will spot that talent and be able to develop it.

alexnews.co.za

FC Barcelona has a youth academy called La Masia, that produced the likes of  Lionel Messi, Dani Alves, Xavi Hernandez, Andreas Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Hector Bellerin, Victor Valdes, Thiago Alcantara, Pedro Rodriguez, Cesc Fabregas, just to name a few. Those players have proven to be the greatest players in the world of football and they won many tittles with Pep Guardiola who's now Manchester City head coach in England.

According to Wikipedia, La Masia holds 300 players and has been praised since 2002 as one of the best in the world, being a significant in FC Barcelona's European success as well as the Spanish national team's success at the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2008 and 2012 European championships.

FcBrcelona.com

In South Africa we need a football platform like that so that we can discover young talents as early as possible. But the main issue will remain the issue of  trialing fee's and premiums. We thank football legends like Harold "Jezzy Queen" Legodi for giving young talent a platform in his football academy that is based in Johannesburg called Africa Sport Youth Academy.