Kaizer Chiefs are reeling from the effects of their misfortunes with the start of the new season adding salt to their wounds in matters relating to what they used to pride themselves in – lifting silverware.
The MTN8 kicked off without Chiefs, while both CAF inter club competitions – the Champions League and Confederation Cup – have also set off minus Amakhosi.
READ: FIFA confirms latest sanctions on PSL clubs
Chiefs' absence from the MTN8 comes on the back of the mess of last season, which sunk them to a 10th place finish in the league.
They failed to get past the first hurdle in the Nedbank Cup, which provides the continental ticket for the winners.
The combination of all these factors, plus the chronicled trophy drought, has left the Soweto giants clutching at straws.
Nine years of firing blanks has meant 270 league games without the most important trophy on the domestic front.
The Glamour Boys have also played another 82 games in cup matches throughout that period, during which Mamelodi Sundowns have won 17 trophies.
The next opportunity to possibly lift silverware for Chiefs will come on November 30 if they get to the final of the Carling Knockout and win that decider.
If they fail to win the Carling Knockout, then their trophy wait will surpass 3500 days since their last trophy success.
The wait will have stretched to 114 months since they last won a trophy, which happened in May 2015.
This long wait for silverware has meant that kids that are now in their second year of high school were not even enrolled for primary school when Chiefs last won a trophy.
Throughout that time, they have missed the trophy target on 34 occasions.
Chiefs have come short in the league nine times, then MTN8 (seven times), Telkom Knockout (six times) and Nedbank Cup (nine times).
They have also been involved in the CAF Champions League twice without joy and came stuck in the CAF Confederation Cup during the 2018/19 season.
READ | Former Pirates striker: I had plenty girlfriends
Of note is the fact that throughout this period of their drought, they have come within minutes of winning the league and have been losing finalists in the Champions League, MTN8, Telkom Knockout and Nedbank Cup.
Just to prove how long Chiefs have waited for silverware, they no longer have anyone in their squad who has won a trophy with the club before.