Mamelodi Sundowns are in a much better place than five, six months ago, according to Sporting Director Flemming Berg.
The Dane stated this in the press conference after the unveiling of new head coach Miguel Cardoso as he addressed suggestions the Manqoba Mngqithi project is deemed a failure as they replaced him before the January transfer window.
Mngqithi oversaw 18 games this season, with four defeats, twice against Stellenbosch, Polokwane City and Magesi, with three of those games resulting in domestic cup failures.
“I don’t really see it like that [Manqoba was a failed project], because we are, in my humble opinion in a much better place now than where we were five months ago, so I don’t see it like that,” he said about Sundowns who are currently top of the league.
“I don’t consider the past few months and journey we had as a failure, not at all, and when it comes to responsibility in this football club, it’s a collective, it’s always collective efforts.
“We bring a lot of knowledge, opinions and recommendations to the table and then again decisions of this magnitude is taken by the board, that’s how this club works.”
Berg went on to dismiss the notion that he has the influence to make all the key decisions at the club, as he’s been accused of since the his arrival in the role and after the Rulani Mokwena exit in the off-season.
“I know there’s been talks about Flemming does this, Flemming did that, but it doesn’t work like that [at Sundowns], you underestimate the club a lot if you think that way, the club is much bigger than that,” he continued.
“So I will take all the responsibility I can – but the most important thing to say is I won’t buy the narrative of failure, we are not in a bad moment at all – we’re in an okay moment but I refer to the GPS model, what was right at that time is not necessarily what is right now.
“We always have to look at that, the key to success for a company or football club is to always find out when the curve will start going down and then act before it happens. The investments have to happen before it starts going down and you cannot be too much, too late, before it’s very late.
“I don’t see it like that or the narrative like that, we’re in a better place and credit to the coaching team that’s been here before, because we’re in a significantly better place than we were five, six months ago, I’m 100% sure of that.”
