Kaizer Chiefs defender Edmilson Dove has made an impassioned plea to the Amakhosi faithful, pleading with the supporters to not give up on the team amid their struggles with the curtains slowly closing on the 2024/25 PSL season.

The Glamour Boys, while they have ambitions to play continental football in the next campaign, are only fighting for a Top 8 spot in Nasreddine Nabi’s first season in charge of the club. 

The 59-year-old tactician was tasked with restoring the glory days in Naturena.

Chiefs are currently sitting in position eight in the Betway Premiership standings with 29 points collected after 23 matches played. Additionally, Nabi’s men have the third-least leakiest defense in the league, with 28 goals conceded.

Following their worst-ever 10th-place finish in the PSL era last season, there was optimism when the Soweto giants roped in the Tunisian mentor, who came with a big reputation of winning trophies across the continent, but things haven’t gone according to plan so far.

“We are going to take one game at a time and do the counting at the end, but to our supporters, we can’t ask for anything else more than they have given us. They have been there through thick and thin even though the season hasn’t gone the way we wanted it to be,” said Dove.

“But as just a message, they must not give up on the gents [players]; they must keep supporting [us] because we need their energy, we need the support that they have been giving us throughout the season.

“And yes, sometimes we make promises we can’t keep, but I think we need to do better in the upcoming games and make sure that we collect as maximum points as we can.” 

Moreover, Dove made an honest admission that the club’s decade-long trophy drought is frustrating, as he joined Chiefs from Cape Town City in August 2022, searching for silverware. 

However, the 30-year-old Mozambican international believes the team’s fortunes will eventually change.

“Not only for them [supporters], but for us it’s also a bit frustrating not to look at what others [Pirates and Sundowns] are doing, but rather to look at ourselves.” I think this club deserves to be at the top, and we have failed a couple of times,” he added.

“I came here myself because I want to win a trophy, and this is a club that can give you that. Having a feeling that you haven’t done what you were called for is quite frustrating, but we can only look forward and move on.

“I’m 100% sure that it can’t storm forever and at some point, we’ll get it right and bring the club [back] to its glory days.” 

Chiefs’ only shot of winning a trophy this term is the Nedbank Cup, where they will face a rampant Mamelodi Sundowns in the semi-finals. 

In the meantime, Amakhosi will swing back to league action with a clash against TS Galaxy at Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday (19:00).