Cool, quiet and collected is Mngqithi
Manqoba Mngqithi is the coolest of professional football coaches you can find in SA.
So cool is the recently appointed co-coach of Mamelodi Sundowns that when the noise swirled around about how a man of his quiet demeanour will handle the new developments at the club, his heart didn’t skip a beat.
The 49-year-old Mngqithi has been paired with Rulani Mokwena to replace the irrepressible Pitso Mosimane as head coaches at Sundowns, but the club owner Patrice Motsepe declared that if there was a stalemate in the decision-making, Mngqithi’s word must prevail.
While everyone was still digesting Motsepe’s decision to replace Mosimane, Mngqithi said in consultation with Mokwena they added Steve Komphela to their technical team, not as their assistant but as a “senior coach” — a peculiar title that further stunned everyone following SA football.
Mngqithi was at pains this week explaining to all and sundry how their new coaching set-up will work and how it came about.
Former schoolteacher
“I’m very impressed,” said Mngqithi — the former school teacher from in Mzimkhulu in KwaZulu-Natal — when asked by the Sunday Times about the new coaching structure at Chloorkop.
“The relationships, which is what many people are worried about, are the least of my problems. I’ve led people in different segments of life and I know what I’m capable of in terms of leadership.”
Mngqithi explained that if Sundowns was not a club that often represented SA in the Caf Champions League, a need to include an experienced coach like Komphela in their technical team may not have arisen nor made any sense.
“We’re trying to add on what coach Pitso has done (he won 11 titles, including the Champions League in 2016, in eight years before recently moving to Al Ahly in Egypt) in the club. We’re not stupid and we know we’ll be judged with the results, not about how we look. Steve is a very important cog in our combination.”
If you thought there’s a likelihood of seeing Mngqithi standing and shouting instructions to his charges on the touchline when Sundowns meet Bloemfontein Celtic in the MTN8 quarterfinal tie at the Lucas Moripe Stadium today, forget it.
“Those are just individual differences,” Mngqithi said of his preference to remain in his seat and not run around the dugout like many coaches during matches.
“Personally I like to watch and observe thoroughly whatever is happening on the field. I’ve always been like that and I’m not suddenly going to change now and be this coach who’s going to stand up and bark instructions. It has never been one of my traits. I’ve always been the coach that is quiet and if I feel that Steve or Rulani add that dimension in my technical team, and it’s necessary, so be it.
“I will not even feel small or perturbed when that happens because I know what I’m doing and comfortable with. I’m a bigger boy to worry about small things. For me these individual differences must help us become a better team.”