Mamelodi Sundowns chairman Tlhopie Motsepe says it was about time for them to “evolve” in giving coach Rulani Mokwena the head coach role at the club.
A club that has been stable for some time since Pitso Mosimane’s days, Sundowns recently decided to promote Mokwena as sole head coach, relinquishing the co-coaching shared role.
With Mokwena appointed as the head coach, Steve Komphela was given the first-team coach role, while Manqoba Mnqgithi is now the senior coach.
At the time of the announcement, the club stated they were not happy with the “recent lacklustre and average performances“, but many were still left wondering as to why the Masandawana leadership opted for those changes, with Motsepe now giving more insight after asked by iDiski Times about the technical team shake-up.
“At our football club we have so much faith and trust in our football department since all three of them took the helm at Mamelodi Sundowns football club,” Motsepe said at the World Football Summit in Durban on Wednesday.
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“I mean, we have gone through every season winning a trophy, and that is credit to all three of the leaders’ mentalities.
“We decided to take the change now because it is also important in football and in life, you must always evolve. You must always look at ways to improve because if you don’t do that, then really you might find yourself in the situation you are getting overtaken by others who are willing to improve and evolve.
“It was about making sure that there was a little bit more consistency across the reporting lines in the football club.
“By having a head coach, by having a first team coach, by having an assistant coach, there’s a reporting line and there is consistency throughout the reporting team.”
Mokwena, since he was given the role last month, his side have been ruthless. They crushed Maritzburg United 5-0 and followed that up with a 3-0 win over Royal AM in the league matches before the break forced by the FIFA World Cup break.
Over the weekend, they won the Carling Black Label Cup, crushing AmaZulu 3-0 in the semi-final and then Orlando Pirates 4-0 in the final.
In four matches Mokwena has been in charge, Sundowns have scored 15 goals without conceding. This has left Motsepe feeling vindicated.
“Mokwena has done an amazing job and that is a wonderful credit to him as a leader,” he added.
“It also credit the other two coaches and the coaching department because there’s a wonderful sense of unity, togetherness.
“There is a shared vision of where we want to take the football club. So we are very pleased with how things are going. It is on them, and we believe they have capabilities to lead the club to even better heights.”
Sundowns will return to training to prepare for the second of the season on 28 November.
Story by Robin-Duke Madlala (@duke_robin).
