Pitso Mosimane has expressed his delight at the success of Rulani Mokwena as a head coach at Mamelodi Sundowns, and stated not many wanted him at the club.
Mosimane was succeeded by Mokwena and Manqoba Mngqithi as co-head coaches in 2021 after his shock exit to Al Ahly – and went on to sustain Sundowns’ domestic dominance.
Having won the league in their first season, Mngqithi was then demoted during the second season, which Mokwena then oversaw and in his first full season as Sundowns head coach, broke the points record set by Mosimane of 71 in the 2015/16 season.
When speaking about his foray into North Africa and the Gulf region in an exclusive interview with iDiski Times, Mosimane went on to praise Mokwena and believes his career choice could well pave the way for more South African coaches to follow suit.
“I’m humbled and happy if you look at how Rulani is doing! I am so humbled because imagine I brought Rulani from the youth and he’s such a bad coach,” he said.
“When everyone says ‘why are you doing that? Who is this guy?’ So I’m so happy to contribute and leave a legacy and space where our brothers must excel. Where they don’t have to start everything.”
When pressed about his pride over Mokwena’s achievements, having now won the African Football League and DStv Premiership in his first full season as head coach at Masandawana, including the record points total, Mosimane said it’s not his records to be broken.
“It’s not my record, he broke Mamelodi Sundowns’ record. It’s not Pitso’s record, it’s Sundowns’ record. And by the way, somebody must set a record, to break it. So imagine I didn’t even help make that record,” Mosimane explained.
Having once stated that Mokwena would become a better coach than himself, Mosimane reiterated that he saw his potential and realised quickly that he held skills that would benefit the club to further success.
“I’m very happy to see [Rulani achieving that]. And I said it, he’s a very good coach, I said I think he is better than me and okay, time will tell – but I think so. What else do I want? How do I bring Rulani to Sundowns twice if I know he is not good?
“You can never tell me that everyone wanted Rulani at Sundowns. The first time… the second time [bringing him back] was worse! They said ‘Ah, he couldn’t make it at Pirates, ah he couldn’t make it at Chippa!’
“They said; ‘you don’t need this guy’ and I said ‘no, I need him! He has things that I don’t know, he has things I don’t like to do’. Do you think Ancelotti knows everything? Why are his staff talking to him all the time? Do you think Pep knows everything? No… you need a team and [Rulani] was the right guy for me to come and help and now they know why I wanted him!
“So for me, I’m a winner when it comes to that. Unlike you bringing in a guy, who doesn’t know what to do, he’s under contract with the club and useless. No, you have a winner my friend, he won the league, you know?
“I’m so happy he’s the head coach now, not this joint what-what. I don’t like that thing of joint things. Someone must be responsible, where have you ever heard there’s a joint what-what in football? Only here. What is that? Where are we seeing that? Do you have a joint teacher in mathematics?”
