AmaZulu Sack Pablo Franco Martin

The start of Pablo Franco Martin’s tenure at AmaZulu Football Club was an exciting time for everyone associated with the club. The arrival of a former Real Madrid assistant coach, and only the second Spanish top-flight coach in South Africa, raised high expectations for the club and the entire local football scene. However, football is a results-driven business, and things can quickly turn sour if positive outcomes are not achieved. Poor results lead to departures, and late on Monday night, those results caught up with the Spaniard, as the club announced his exit. In this week’s By The Numbers, we examine some of the key statistics behind Pablo Franco Martin’s time at a club with publicly stated title ambitions.

Post-Benni Struggles

After parting ways with Benni McCarthy in March 2022, Usuthu’s subsequent coaching appointments have all struggled. First, Brandon Truter’s three-month stint produced unsatisfactory (albeit decent) results, and then Romain Folz’s tenure also failed to inspire. Franco’s time at the club lasted longer than his two predecessors (much longer), but his results still pale in comparison to McCarthy’s, and even to Truter’s brief period.

33 – league games under Franco (more than Folz & Truter combined, 31)

46 – league games under Benni McCarthy

19 – wins under McCarthy (41% win rate)

17 – combined wins under Truter (6), Folz (3), and Franco (8)

McCarthy won more league games than all three of his successors combined. While there may have been other factors behind his departure that weren’t made public, his results were strong. In hindsight, the decision to part ways with him looks questionable, especially given the struggles of his successors and his own career trajectory since. McCarthy joined (and later left) Manchester United as a striker coach, while AmaZulu has since recorded 12th- and 11th-place finishes in the league. The heights of their 2nd-place finish in 2021 seem more glorious by the day. The start of the current season must have raised red flags for management, as the club now sits at the bottom of the table.

3 – games played by AmaZulu this season

0 – games won by AmaZulu this season

0 – previous seasons where AmaZulu went winless after three games

A Tough Year

It’s not just this three-game stretch that led to Franco’s dismissal. The writing has been on the wall since the start of 2024.

17 – league games played by AmaZulu this year

9 – games lost by AmaZulu this year, the joint-most among all PSL teams

14 – points won by AmaZulu this year, the fewest of all ever-present sides (i.e., teams neither relegated nor promoted between the 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons)

19 – points won by relegated Cape Town Spurs

The graph below illustrates how tough things were, particularly after the turn of the year. The green-shaded areas represent periods when AmaZulu were performing well—creating better-quality chances than they were conceding. The red areas show the opposite, where they were less competitive overall.

Up until December last year, Usuthu posted relatively strong numbers. The league table reflected this, as they were 8th at the turn of the year, just seven points behind 2nd place. However, they won just three of their next 14 games, a true reflection of their underlying numbers. A few decent performances in early to mid-April may have delayed Franco’s departure, but ultimately, you can’t escape the numbers in the long run.

Fortunately for the incoming coach, the season is still young, and the next league game is a month away, providing ample time to make the necessary adjustments.

15 – teams in the 30-game PSL era that have lost their first 3 games

7 – teams that were relegated from this position

8 – teams that survived from this position

4th – the highest finishing position for a team that lost their first 3 games (Cape Town City, 2022/23)