Mamelodi Sundowns chairman Thlopie Motsepe has explained why the club trusted the coaching team around Manqoba Mngqithi at the beginning of the season after Rulani Mokwena had just left, and why they made the decision to sack them now.
Masandawana announced the appointment of former ES Tunis head coach Miguel Cardoso on Tuesday, with Manqoba Mngqithi, Wendell Robinson and Romain Folz let go.
- ALSO READ: Cardoso – Why I Retained Komphela & Mweene At Sundowns
- Who Stays, Who’s Gone? Motsepe Explains Downs Changes
The club could have made a similar switch of bringing in a new coach from the outside after Mokwena left, but opted to look internally and Motsepe explained the decision during a press conference.
“We wanted to make sure that we gave this coaching team that was led by coach Manqoba and Wendell [Robinson] the opportunity to start the season and see what they can do with the current crop of players,” he told reporters.
“There’s a history that they have with the football club and they understand a lot about the team and the players.
“As I said before we also have a commitment as a family to develop African and South African coaches. So the opportunity came at the start of the season to hire a different coach or to try this project again.
“We understood what we had and who we are working with and we wanted to give them that chance.”
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However, after Sundowns lost the Carling Knockout final, were knocked out of the MTN8 semi-finals and started their CAF Champions League campaign with two draw, which made the club management come to their decision that change and a new coach was needed.
“Subsequently the season started and the team wasn’t heights we had hoped and that the board had expected,” Motsepe continued.
“Rather than let matters deteriorate and let two coaches who are really well loved and still are by our supporters and our club, we decided let’s stop now.
“They have a wonderful history with the football club already. We also decided to make the decision now so that we could position ourselves as we close this year to be in a stronger position looking forward to 2025 and onward.
“It was about the club needing change and we hope that this is going to bring us a lot of new energy and allow us to shift into that new chapter of success.”
