Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi says it’s in the nature of black people to be pessimistic in reference to the negativity surrounding the trio replacing Pitso Mosimane.
Sundowns have won back to back league titles since the shock departure of Mosimane to Al Ahly in September 2020, in which Mngqithi and Rulani Mokwena succeeded him as co-head coaches while Steve Komphela was roped in from Golden Arrows as a first-team coach.
Masadawana have arguably been taken to new heights with the exception of not going further than the quarter-final of the CAF Champions League, which also proved to be a challenge for Mosimane since the 2016 triumph over Zamalek, their sole star to date.
However, with a domestic treble in sight ahead of the Nedbank Cup final against Marumo Gallants, Mngqithi played down the notion that the decision to have their current technical team has been vindicated against the nay-sayers by their success since replacing the three-time CAF Champions League winning tactician.
“I never go to that space because it’s a negative space and as a person, I’m a very positive person but I always give room for people to be pessimistic because it’s in our nature, I don’t know if it’s in our background more especially our black nation, we are very pessimistic,” he said ahead of the Nedbank Cup final.
“We take too long to think something will work right, we always have a lot… we shall see situations instead of saying maybe we need to support as this might work and it happens even in our families, it’s very easy for black people to be pessimistic.
“If you are doing well, they will never say this guy is doing well God is blessing him so I’m just saying it’s very important in life, to stay on the positive side, what has carried me is trying to see the silver lining and not the dark cloud because it’s most likely be rain and you don’t want the rain, you must hope for the sunshine afterwards.”
“But I don’t blame people because it was a new thing to have three coaches in the team, whereas when coach Pitso was here, it was myself, Pitso, ‘Bance’ initially then it was coach Pitso myself and Rulani.
“At Arrows I had Coach Mandla Ncikazi and Coach Luis at AmaZulu I had Fani Madida and Joel Masilela, so I’ve always been in an environment where I know the ratios in training are important, you can only have five percent influence in the group that you have in front of you.”
Mngqithi went on to state that having a bigger technical team contributes to the success of the club, especially when working with a 35-man first-team squad at present at Chloorkop but went on to cite examples of his former clubs and current set-ups in the DStv Premiership – which he suggested there’s no real noise around due to their lack of success.
“If my five percent in the 35-man squad is not going to make the team win, it’s always important to gather the other percentages from even the physio, who speaks positively to the player and [motivates them] and I got a very good induction which I’m grateful for as a coach because at my youngest stage even before I was qualified I worked for Maritzburg City,” he continued.
“And they were playing in the ABC Mostepe League with a Technical Director, Thabo Dladla, we had Reggie Schilembe head coach, myself assistant coach, Thami Mahlansi the second assistant and the Team Manager Mahlangu Madondo also had level 2 coaching licence. So I got used to a culture of very objective and critical debates when it comes to what we want to achieve, and how we want to play and train.
“Those who know Maritzburg City will tell you what kind of a team we had and that for me was the best induction because we played the best football from there and from there on I’ve always worked with more than one assistant coach because I know how important it is to have a little bit more brains around the team to get what we want.
“But what is most important in that space is the leadership within the group. If you entertain any sorts of petty issues and stupid fights, you don’t see the light but if you try and create a mentality that everyone is important and everybody’s view must be listened to without undermining everyone, you always stand a chance of achieving more.
“There are many teams in the league with more than one coach but nobody talks about them when they don’t succeed, the moment they start to succeed maybe something will be said, but the truth of the matter is, it’s a very healthy set-up.”
The likes of Orlando Pirates, Golden Arrows and Sekhukhune United have all opted to go the co-coaching route this season with various degrees of success of failure attributed to the decisions, depending on what mandates the respective duos were given.
