Benni McCarthy’s voice crackles with a giddy enthusiasm, bordering on teenage infatuation, when he speaks of a past relationship that has, in his words, “ruined” him for future suitors. That “ex” is Manchester United, a footballing giant with a global fanbase and a market value that remains substantial despite recent setbacks. For two years, the 47-year-old Hanover Park native served as the club's striker coach, a feat unmatched by any other South African. He honed the skills of some of the game's brightest talents, including Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcus Rashford, the latter describing him as "an extra bit on top that we need".
This remarkable chapter, however, ended in June when United chose not to renew his contract. Now, McCarthy finds himself seeking a new challenge, his standards irrevocably raised by his experience at Old Trafford. "What are the chances of a boy from Hanover Park, from the Cape Flats, a coach from South Africa – to get a chance to even get a door opened for them to see how things are like at Old Trafford, at Carrington? None! But I was there for two years," he says, beaming with pride during a recent ambassadorship for the Carling Black Label Cup in Sandton.
"I was coaching there. That was my home. That made me realise that if you set yourself small goals, then you will achieve those small goals. If you set yourself big goals, then you work towards getting those goals. A small goal is me wanting to coach ahhh…" He trails off, his ambition evident. "My sights are set higher. Being in Manchester was the best experience ever. It was a different kind of professionalism. Just a different level of everything. Everything is so much bigger…"
The downside, he admits, is that this experience has spoiled him. "The bad thing is that now that I have experienced that level, I want more of it. I want to have it all the time. It will be hard to go down from that level. Maybe you will never see me again in football."
This heightened expectation explains McCarthy's rejection of AmaZulu's job offer in October following the dismissal of Pablo Franco Martin. His coaching journey began in 2015 with an internship at Sint-Truidense in Belgium, while simultaneously upgrading his coaching badges in Scotland. Two years later, he took his first head coaching role at Cape Town City, his footballing birthplace. There, he completed his UEFA Pro Licence and guided the Citizens to MTN8 glory in 2018. However, his success proved unsustainable, leading to his departure in 2019.
The following year, AmaZulu came calling, offering a lifeline to a club struggling to avoid relegation. Under McCarthy's guidance, Usuthu achieved a remarkable second-place finish in the 2020-21 season, providing a much-needed boost to KwaZulu-Natal, a province grappling with the pandemic, riots, the death of its king and regent, and devastating floods. This success propelled Usuthu, a club founded by migrant workers in 1932 and bearing the crest of the Zulu royal family, into the CAF Champions League for the first time in their history.
However, this spectacular rise was short-lived, culminating in McCarthy's dismissal in 2022. "When there is success, problems come," he reflects. He explains the club's subsequent decline: "Now, the chairman (Zungu) and the club want to compete for the title. But if you don't want to invest, you can't compete. You want to drive a Ferrari, but you give me an Uno Fiat or a Corsa engine and put in a Ferrari and say I must race against other fast cars. (Mamelodi) Sundowns, these guys, they come with Aston Martins and Lamborghinis – and you want me to race them with a Corsa engine. It doesn't work like that. Give me also some weapons to fight with."
He continues, "The problem then was that the club didn't want to spend, to get the players that we needed because we were playing in the Champions League, but we were expected to compete these many competitions with the same players. Those players were exhausted. We reached a limit with that team. We needed fresh blood, we didn't get and off course we were going to struggle."
He left AmaZulu on good terms, wishing them well, but observes, "The club then felt that they needed to bring someone new, and I left with a good heart. I wished them well and hoped that they would take the team to another level or match what we did. But history shows that they went down. When you have something good, hold on to it baba. Now when you realise that you made a mistake, that train has moved on. That train went to Manchester United. It's no longer going to come back to Usuthu. It wasn't the right project for me, and it wasn't where I wanted to be. So, I politely declined." Richards Bay's interest also proved insufficient to tempt him. Rumours linking him to Mamelodi Sundowns were dismissed as a chance encounter with the club's sporting director at an airport.
McCarthy’s ambitions are firmly set on a higher level. He has already conducted interviews with three Major League Soccer clubs in the United States. "My ambitions are just high," he states. "That means the MLS, the Premier League, the Championship, La Liga or Portuguese League – that's where I am looking to go. I am not going to say, 'Please let me get a job at Chiefs, Sundowns or Pirates'. My ambitions are far beyond that baba."
Reflecting on his playing career, a veil of humility – a rare occurrence for McCarthy – descends. He acknowledges his potential: "I probably underachieved," he says candidly. "Not that I am selling myself short. I could have done better. I could have done more. Especially when it comes to playing for Bafana Bafana. It was (down to) complete bitterness and sourness (because of my strained relationship with SAFA). I made 80 appearances. I probably could have made 120 or 150 international appearances. I probably could have scored 70 or 80 goals."
He attributes this to his strained relationship with SAFA: "But all of that didn't happen because of the disputes with SAFA, club versus country and talks that Benni didn't want to play for his country. But the people who said that have never walked a mile in my shoe. If you were faced with what I faced (you probably would not be saying these things about me). I was misunderstood as well. I am gutted that I didn't fully play to the potential that I could have for the national team." His Manchester United experience, while incredibly successful, has set a benchmark that he now finds difficult to compromise.
