Benni McCarthy resorted to desperate measures in 2011 to sort out his physique while enjoying a short stint with Orlando Pirates.
Mr McCarthy recalls his rabbit food diet of 2011
Benni McCarthy has been harshly criticised for his weight gain since switching from player to coach. It must be difficult to transition from elite athlete to tactician, though. Besides, how many of those throwing shade at Benni are in perfect shape themselves? Not many, I guess.
McCarthy’s bloated figure was the primary reason he parted ways with the then-English Premiership club, West Ham, in April 2011. The Hammers ordered him to lose weight in three months to make the squad in the 2010-11 Premier League campaign.
Benni, who hails from Hanover Park township in Cape Town, first played in the domestic Premiership in 1997 for the Cape Town Spurs.
‘Our bodies are weapons’
“I’ve changed my lifestyle and eating habits,” he said back in 2011 when he was an Orlando Pirates player.
“I can’t even say how much I weighed because I never wanted to know. When I jumped onto the scale I was only happy to know that my weight was going down.
“I figured out that if I or other players can embark on a healthy diet, one can almost feel younger for longer. Our bodies are our weapons that we must look after.”
Benni is becoming a top manager, Orlando Pirates calling?
Benni McCarthy started his coaching journey at Sint-Truiden, where he was the Belgian club’s assistant manager from 2015 to 2016. He then presided over 89 matches at Cape Town City as their head coach, winning the MTN9 in 2018-2019. His next head coach role was with AmaZulu, a club he guided to the Caf Champions League for the first time in their history. All of those roles preceded arguably his most glamorous position to date: first-team attacking coach at Manchester United. With the 2023-2024 FA Cup now in his cabinet, Benni’s tasted success in the dugout on two occasions and will want more of that feeling. Mr McCarthy is now the head coach of Kenya’s Harambee Stars.
Is Benni the greatest player in South African football history?
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