Mamelodi Sundowns co-head coach Rulani Mokwena says he’s not competing with his predecessor and mentor Pitso Mosimane for silverware.
The 35-year-old could win his first cup competition as head coach, with Sundowns attempting to finally lift the MTN8 cup.
Mosimane was one of the coaches that failed to win the competition despite being the country’s most successful coach in history, but Mokwena insisted he is not out to better his former mentor’s coach.
“But it’s a trophy that many others didn’t win, not just coach Pitso,” he said during a press conference when asked by iDiski Times whether the MTN8 would mean more to him because Mosimane hadn’t won it.
“Coach Pitso’s CV speaks for itself, the work that he has done. And, of course, I always say this, I am not in competition with coach Pitso.
“I can’t be looking to win things because coach Pitso didn’t win them.
“And of course, in the end it’s not an individual thing. The leadership of the club, from a technical perspective means that there’s more than one coach in our space and therefore to personalise and put it only about me becomes a little bit of a difficult space to go into.”
Mokwena insisted that lifting silverware is not about the individual but about the club.
“I have huge respect for the work that Pitso has done at Mamelodi Sundowns, and huge respect for the trophies that he has achieved,” he added.
“Of course that’s the focus, to try and continue the legacy that has been left behind, not just by Pitso but by even his predecessors.
“Because it takes more than one human being to build an empire, and while you are at service, while you are in the position of leading – of course as a group with coach Manqoba and coach Steve Komphela and Wendell (Robinson) – we understand that our responsibility once more is to serve this institution.
“While we are still here we will do it to the best of our ability and try to continue to win all the trophies that are on offer, every single match, every single training session.
“That’s our mentality, we want to play with intensity, we want to play with a lot of concentration and to do that means you’ve got to be selfless. For the players to be selfless that mentality needs to be driven from us, the technical team, the leadership and it’s got absolutely nothing to do with coach Pitso or myself. It’s about the club and that’s where our focus lies.”
Story by David Kappel (@kappilinho).
