The relationship between the Mamelodi Sundowns coaching staff is ‘cohesive’ and clashes are part of the process, admits First Team coach Steve Komphela.
Komphela entered the coaching trio, initially as a Senior Coach under the co-coaching duo of Manqoba Mngqithi and Rulani Mokwena, which at the time many believed was not going to work after the sudden departure of Pitso Mosimane.
And while there was a notable fallout within the trio, they continued with the job and arguably have taken Sundowns to the next level in terms of style of play and results, barring the CAF Champions League not being won yet.
After a domestic treble, the 2022/23 season started off shaky, by Masandawana standards before the shake-up saw Mokwena named as sole head coach, and Komphela shared some insights, not only into their space but the entire technical team.
“It’s very cohesive, it’s not easy to have an environment on shared leadership and it needs a lot of maturities. You can see the eight of us are seated on the bench, already there you feel the brains at work,” Komphela said.
“And sometimes a confrontation that is more like simmering, even in their silence, you can feel there’s something about to clash here, so it’s normal for coaches because brains are brains, and where there are brains working, there’s going to be differences in opinion but it needs maturity to merge those differences so when it comes out solid.
“But in my first year at Sundowns, one thing that we all agreed to, is that we can’t fail Sundowns, because of the opportunity given to us, and worse, you are black people, the meat that has been sold about black people not working together, we needed to find that and kick it out the window.
“Whatever circumstances we had to stick together and work and make it work – because one we were not only an example to football, we were not an example to politics, not an example to religion, not an example to business but to society and the world, send a message that black people can work together, that was very important.”
When pressed by iDiski Times about his own role at the club, which outsiders have often questioned, Komphela stated that sacrificing ego for the betterment of the institution is a reality and that it was important to send a message that black people can work in cohesion and have success.
“It’s beautiful, energies are amazing and you cannot imagine having three or four coaches on the park, you don’t do that man, you don’t want chaos because players are watching what’s happening and players have to absorb information,” Komphela stated.
“You can imagine if I lack focus based on the lenses are here and the cellphones that are here, I’m going to be a mess, so it’s like coaching, delivering a message to a player. So we need to find a way of saying; now how does this information go?
“And I know before the end of this interview some of you will be saying why have you not been stepping up for interviews, purely, purely because of that.
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“There has to be clarity, there has to order, there has to be maturity and that happens in an environment where people are intentional and deliberate about the process, and the process itself is clear enough to have a clear definition.
“So there’s never been any glitches, it had been unbelievably tremendous.”
