Martin ready to shoulder the expectations and ambitions of Amazulu

AmaZulu head coach Pablo Franco Martin says that he is ready to shoulder all the club’s expectations and ambitions as he begins his second season in South Africa.

The Spanish-born mentor arrived in the kingdom of the Zulu amid huge anticipation, having been a part of Real Madrid’s technical team in recent years.

“Cijimpi”, as he is known among the Usuthu faithful, was entrusted with achieving the hopes of club president Sandile Zungu, who is focused on trying to ensure that the club returns to the CAF Champions League.

In his debut season at the Durban-based outfit, Martin was able to do enough to maintain the club ownership’s faith in him despite an inconsistent first campaign in the country. AmaZulu narrowly missed out on a top-eight finish last season, concluding the campaign in 11th place, just three points off eighth-placed Polokwane City.

Now in his second season with Usuthu, Martin is determined to meet the club’s demands with the Betway Premiership kicking off after the international break.

“I'm really excited about my second season. We have huge expectations for this season. We know it’s going to be tough but we are also confident in our capacity. We know what we’re capable of,” he said at the Betway Premiership launch on Tuesday.

“We learnt a lot from last season. We built something that is starting to be unique and we want to continue building on those foundations. I think the first thing we need to do is try to start the season in a better way than we did last season because we know how important it is to collect points at the start of the season in terms of also building confidence so we avoid inconsistency.”

AmaZulu have only regressed since their miracle 2020/21 campaign where they finished as the league’s runners-up and qualified for the Champions League under coach Benni McCarthy. They’ve finished in seventh, 12th and 11th in the seasons that followed.

At the start of pre-season, Zungu revealed that he would return to run the club full-time having previously stepped away and let his daughter and CEO Sinenjabulo Zungu take the reins.

AmaZulu dipped into the transfer market and captured the signatures of seven new players with the Mamelodi Sundowns trio of Etiosa Ighodaro, Luvuyo Phewa and Sifiso Ngobeni signed on loan for the next 12 months.

Martin says that the demands of the club come as no surprise to him but he will wait until the season starts to measure his side’s chances against the 15 other teams.

“I think all the chairmen of all the teams are targeting the same top four and they all went into the market to find good players. I think we need to start the season to see what’s the real level of all the teams but we’re not putting any limits to ourselves.”

AmaZulu will kick off their league campaign away against Polokwane City on September 14.