Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena explains his relationship with Moroka Swallows boss Steve Komphela. Image Source: (@MorokaSwallows/MamelodiSundiwns/Twitter)
Sundowns boss spills beans on relations with Komphela
Despite the so called beef between him and Steve Komphela, Mamelodi Sundowns boss spills the beans on relations with his mentor.
Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena explains his relationship with Moroka Swallows boss Steve Komphela. Image Source: (@MorokaSwallows/MamelodiSundiwns/Twitter)
After reaching 50 matches as a Mamelodi Sundowns boss, Rulani Mokwena spills the beans on his relations with Steve Komphela.
Mokwena was speaking about the so-called beef between him and Komphela as Sundowns reached the semi-finals of the inaugural African Super League.
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Komphela has since left Sundowns to join Moroka Swallows and Mokwena explains relations between the two mentors.
As quoted by iDiski Times, Mokwena has since reached an impressive 70% win ratio out of 50 matches as they defeated Petro Luanda on Tuesday.
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SUNDOWNS BOSS SPILLS BEANS ON RELATIONS WITH KOMPHELA
The astute manager is now preparing to face Al Ahly in the semi-finals of the lucrative AFL this weekend at Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
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Mokwena worked with Komphela and Manqoba Mngqihi at Chloorkop for three seasons but the ex-Kaizer Chiefs mentor opted to leave ahead of the 2023/24 campaign.
“Well, I didn’t get to hear the voice note of [Komphela] that. I would assume that based on the past, and I can only speak from my side in that space, I have not heard the voice note,” he told Andile Ncube on MetroFM.
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“I have to say this before I answer your questions, from my side, I can only speak from my side, and it’s the perspective that I sit from, and that I have a full responsibility and I hope that it is something I have extended towards all the colleagues that I’ve worked with – Micho [Milutin Sredojevic] being one of them, coach Manqoba [Mngqithi] being another, Pitso [Mosimane] being the other, they know that working with me I’m very honest, I give you my best and the relations are important to me.
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“I am where I am today because coach Steve Komphela gave me an opportunity at Platinum Stars to be an assistant coach when I was a U19 coach way back, way back in 2011 – 2009 and 2010 in fact.
“So there is a great sense of pride, there is a great sense of appreciation towards him and what he did but for sure I know that he had his own ambitions of still remaining a head coach.”
SUNDOWNS COACH ON KOMPHELA’S QUALITIES AS HEAD COACH
Furthermore, the 36-year-old former Orlando Pirates manager, Mokwena explains that he felt Komphela always had the thought of being a head coach.
“And within his own right, you see at work he’s doing at Moroka Swallows, it’s exceptional,” he adds.
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“Because in his own right, he believes that he’s a head coach and that’s why maybe even when he came it was difficult for, and out of even respect for that type of understanding for the club to turn him into an assistant coach because of his background and because the position he came from deserved a lot more respect in terms of the title and that he strongly felt like that.
“Fortunately the club gave great support because of the man that he is and the respect that the club gave him.
“But I would also think that a man like Steve Komphela also understands that with the questions you put through me, that let’s go for an example to his stint as Kaizer Chiefs head coach in the beginning, you remember who his first assistant coach was?
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“I know that first season, if I’m not mistaken, it was John Paintsil and then he as the head coach changed assistant coaches to Patrick Mabedi – or Mabedi came after Doctor Khumalo. But I know that for the three seasons, he had three different assistant coaches.
“If he is to say that ‘coach Rulani did not want me as his assistant’, I would assume that he of the people who have been in the position of a head coach would understand why a head would be in liberty to choose his technical team.”
