Steve Komphela appeared to have bid farewell to fans following Kaizer Chiefs’ 1-0 victory against Platinum Stars on Sunday.

Hendrick Ekstein scored the only goal of the game to give Chiefs a narrow victory of Dikwena, but it was Komphela’s words after the match that had the South African football fraternity talking.

“Personally, I must thank everyone who has put pressure on me,” he said in the post-match interview.

“I couldn’t have been the coal that I am. I couldn’t have been the diamond that I am. I would have stayed a simple muddy house.

“It is through pressure that you get better.

“But you have to accept the pressure because at the back of not accepting pressure you are denying ‘God what he wants you to do. He is preparing for another environment – it could be outside football, it could be anywhere else. So don’t say no to challenges, rather seek more wisdom.

“I have grown immensely. I am not the same coach that came to Chiefs, as I go out I must thank everybody.

“The pressure that you receive makes you a better person. Emotionally, I was very weak as a person but if you ask me now the emotions are stronger and that moves deeper into the levels of faith.

“Maybe I need to be more faithful and the only way to do that is to have emotions that are strong and stable, that nothing hurts you but that comes from thinking,” he concluded.