Mamelodi Sundowns chairman Thlopie Motsepe has explained the shock decision to give Manqoba Mngqithi the boot despite making a brilliant start to the new season.
The reigning champions have won eight of their nine league games and sit pretty at the top of the Betway Premiership.
But, despite their good start in the league, Sundowns have made a slow start to the CAF Champions League, and fell in the semi-final stage in both the MTN8 and Carling Knockout Cup.
๐๐๐ฆ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐๐ข ๐๐ฎ๐ง๐๐จ๐ฐ๐ง๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ฏ๐๐ข๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐ซ๐๐จ๐ฌ๐จ ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐จ๐๐๐ก | ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ฃ
โ Mamelodi Sundowns FC (@Masandawana) December 11, 2024
๐ Chairman - Tlhopie Motsepe
๐ Miguel Cardoso
๐ Flemming Berg
Watch the full press conference on YouTube ๐ฒโฆ pic.twitter.com/mv3IpAj6LL
In the latter, they were unceremoniously dumped out by giant killers Magesi FC, who went on to win the whole shebang.
โThere are always considerations in serious appointments like changing a coach but it wasnโt the Magesi FC game that was the decider," Motsepe said in Tuesday's press conference to announce the appointment of Miguel Cardoso.
"The Magesi game was magic for most but tragic for us. It was definitely something you look back on. Someone came up to me at the end of the game and said 'this is why football is called the beautiful game', and itโs tough to look at it from that perspective when youโre on the receiving end of a Cinderella story like that.
"What I know is that the performance inspired many amateur footballers and many coaches to say that this is possible and thatโs the magic of cup football.
โWe started the season having given the coaching team an opportunity to lead the club in the direction they saw fit. Unfortunately, we started with a stumble and we were knocked out of the MTN8. We had another unfortunate stumble against Polokwane City and there was just series of games where we never really saw the consistency that we would have hoped.
โThe club wasn't trending in the direction that we knew the club should be so the decision was made after a compounding of many factors and led us to the decision and then we had to make it fairly quick to put the coach and his team to be in the best position to see out the rest of the season.โ
IOL Sport