WHAT MAKES PITSO UNIQUE?

The mood was easy, cheerful, grateful, pregnant with expectation and ambition. This was the atmosphere in the Ka Bo Yellow press conference. If you didn’t know what Masandawana was about, then you surely do now. The announcement of the contract extension of Pitso Mosimane did not come as a surprise. ‘Jingles’ – as per his given moniker – has truly become a resource that the Brazilians cannot lose. He knows exactly what the team needs. Not only regarding recruitment, but also the nature in which to speak to or approach players. This is a characteristic that not all coaches are blessed with. It’s easy to have a philosophy and culture, but to carry it over in a way that’s relatable and comforting is the secret to success. Many top coaches have come and gone, with big reputations and pedigree in terms of their education and presence, but Sir Pitso Mosimane stands head and shoulders above because he understands the profile and behavioural pattern of local players. Yes, he has the tools, backing and support to succeed. The technical team works in harmony and cohesion with the youth structure. And the door is always open to those who is keen to come in and make a contribution. I would say he is a force who has made use of Brazilian and European philosophies but also allows his players to express themselves. The likes of Themba Zwane and Gaston Sirino, to name a few, are not restricted by the team’s way of playing. Finding the balance between the two has played a key role in the functioning of the club as a whole. All these components work together to the betterment of the club. Let’s hope that the coach can continue to improve, learn and implement more ideas that will see us having more youth coming through and local players going on to thrive in Europe. There is such a buzz around Sundowns that makes everyone want to be a part of it. It’s something that I cannot see at other clubs. The board, the club and supporters all come together in unison to achieve their goals. All hail Sir Pitso Mosimane! By Joshua Hendricks, via You Got Published Below are comments to some of the top stories on the Soccer Laduma website over the past week…

‘HE ALWAYS TOLD ME I AM BAFANA NUMBER ONE’

Don’t worry about people. They will always talk. You are a gem indeed, boy. You and Darren Keet, plus that Jody February boy, should be our national team keepers. But with that elephant in the room in SAFA, that will never happen because money is used to fight personal vendettas. Having that, I am worried about February because he is going to make a lot of money but will be playing for a MultiChoice Diski Challenge team. makhanda-mendu

Don’t allow people to fool you. Itumeleng Khune is the best this country has ever produced. He is the best by miles. You will only be no.1 the day he retires. You are a talented player though. Fanle khosified

You are friends. Friends are allowed to lie to each other sometimes. He knew who Bafana’s number one is. siyaz

You are our future national team number one, son, because Bafana Bafana never qualified for any tournament with The Fat One between the poles. I’m glad that The Fat One is nursing old age injuries. Maybe in his absence you’ll cement your place in the squad. Qhaf-Qhaf

This thing of ‘Bafana number one’ has destroyed our national team. I mean, Itumeleng Khune was named number one, but we never qualified for anything in his 15 years as Bafana number one, until Senzo Meyiwa rescued us in his eight months with Bafana to qualify for Afcon. SL_hated_donkey

You are a good keeper, Ronwen. We wanted to sign you at Bucs but, unfortunately, Richard Ofori is coming. Unless you are willing to settle for second best. However, you can WhatsApp Floyd Mbele, he will respond. @ThizaK

MEGA MONEY DEALS: HOW MUCH A PSL STATUS IS WORTH

Tim Sukazi should not make a mistake of moving the team from Bloemfontein and risk losing such a strong, well-established support base. At most, he should rather make a partial name change, e.g. TS Celtic, while keeping its legendary identity. If affordable, he should keep TS Galaxy as a feeder team – that would benefit both teams in terms of player development movements. MS

South African businesses do not support our teams. No one will run a club with his family money. We shall agree that running a club is too expensive. The monthly grant is not enough. Calculate how much it is to travel to Cape Town with a team of 18 players and technical team. Player salaries. However, I feel pain for Celtic supporters. Kalatjane

I blame Ace Magashule for Bloemfontein Celtic’s demise. Once he was removed from Premier of the Free State, the team went bankrupt. Zam d king buccaneer

CRUCIAL PSL DECISION ABOUT POSSIBLE RETURN OF FOOTBALL PENDING…

Haters said come May, Chiefs will no longer be in pole position. Surprise, surprise, we are entering the last week of May and we are still in pole position. Bring the games. We will do like we did in the first round. Chiefskayione

Is anybody taking into account the safety of players and all the stakeholders? May God bless this country, the entire world and her people. Letlali

Kaizer Chiefs will play the way they did in the first round, so catch them if you can. I see them winning this league. patrick shikwambani@kaizerchiefs. com

Why North West? @ThizaK

EKSTEIN BLASTED: THAT’S NOT SHOWING HUMANITY

What were you expecting? My two boys are playing soccer and they are doing just fine. One is U13 and the other is U15. They play for a respected team and I am monitoring the situation. Very soon I will be sending them to Mayfair to showcase their God-given talent. I don’t need any agent. I will do it on my own. I am their agent. Black4bucs

Ukulayile (He taught you a lesson)! You agents always take the players for a ride. You always put yourselves first. It was nice for you when he was earning R8 000 at Chiefs. You’ve been crying about this for a while now, just get over it. So-Mathabo-KBY

That’s bad indeed. SiyaVToni

BREAKING: CHIEFS ANNOUNCE NEW PLAYER DEAL

We need your best when we resume this stop-and-start season, expecting a lot of goals from you and your combo partner Nurkovic to finish off what we have started for the 2019/20 season. kamuke

Thanks a lot, Baba (Kaizer) Motaung, for re-signing Leonardo Castro and please secure the services of Bongi Ntuli, Thabo Nodada, Lesedi Kapinga as well as Siyethemba Sithebe. khatil

Thanks, “Mr Balls”. You don’t have pace, but your positioning and aerial presence make a difference. Hit them hard, Castroooooo! Veeeeveron

Bad news for haters. Chest pains and COVID-19 for you. We are the Khosi Nation. @stupidPigtsoMasimbana

Yeah, Khosis, good news indeed. We can become unstoppable if we can also acquire a good coach who believes in our traditional way of playing with playmakers and natural wingers. We have enough personnel in our arsenal already, provided we also tie down the likes of Joseph Molangoane and Stash (Siphelele Ntshangase). Raul Kaizer Chiefs

The player in question should stop being lazy and always homesick. He must put some elbow grease and show us what he is made of. Dangerous when provoked

Good news. Now they must give

Joseph Molangoane a chance and a new deal. He posted today that he is back and strong and better than before. Loto@73

Thanks to the managements for keeping a best player like Leonardo Castro and also thanks to Castro for not being difficult to agree to the new contract. I think we still need his services. The fact that weren’t going to sign players for the next two transfer window periods was starting to stress most of the Khosi faithful. Now we are stress-free, as long as the team tries all by means to retain our best players. patrick shikwambani@ kaizerchiefs.com

OFFICIAL: PITSO SIGNS NEW DEAL!

Oh, now it’s revealed that money was an issue. I read a story where Mr Patrice Motsepe outlined that they had to increase Pitso Mosimane’s salary and he affirmed by saying English coaches earn more by just pitching up on the field, but he worked for it. All along, he was saying money was not a factor. He, he, he, the truth always has a way of coming out. Khosination@2020

He deserves it. SiyaVToni

Congrats to Mr Pitso. My advice to him is to go and cripple these so-called big guns of Africa by taking one or two of their star players. That’s when you can maybe win the CAF Champions League (again). mavingos

Big things are happening and we’re looking forward to making life miserable for the small teams from Soweto. If you know, you know. Gandanga

I love my country. Pitso nearly left Mamelodi Sundowns, with fans throwing everything (in his direction) and chanting: “He must go”. We are so quick to blame black coaches. Keep it up, Pitso! Proudly South African. Gudenough

Well-managed club in the country, well-oiled Yellow machine, Ka Bo Yellow Masandawana. Kusazo shuba. Dubula magazine safa yindlala. Habashweeeeee. YonkinDawana

To my coach, thanks again for staying with us. We love you as Sundowns fans and wish you all the best, coach. mr tman we’downs

That’s good news to the Yellow Nation and all South African people who understand football. Qhaf-Qhaf

The most successful coach in the history of SA football and what I love is he’s a black coach. Nhlpato

Thanks, ‘Jingles’ and our humble President, for choosing the best team in Africa, so please continue making history until the end of 2040. calender-t4t

I’m very disappointed with Pitso. I thought it was time for him to move on to another challenge and prove that he is a great coach. But, anyway, congrats to him on his new contract. Jersey#8

I think Pitso was forced to remove that children’s legacy demand for his contract to be considered. This guy enjoys the comfort zone and is very scared to prove his worth with other clubs. Gordon Igesund is still the only coach to have scooped four league trophies with four different clubs in Mzansi. He is like Pep, Mourinho… guys who are not scared of new challenges. Vhivha

Good news. Whether he wanted to hold Downs to ransom or not, we care less about that. I knew this coach loves Sundowns, hence when the team loses, he cries, not like other coaches who can be seen smiling even after losing crucial games that cost them the league or a cup. This is music to my ears. I agree that once again, we will collect at least one or two cups each season. Yellow! Let the league resume. Divine14

Wrong decision, Motsepe. You will regret ever making this decision. Pitso’s graph is going down. I don’t see him dominating in the coming seasons. His time is over. Everybody has their time. It’s always best to leave when things are still good. S pectacular

This is my first comment since the country went into lockdown. I am coming out to express my happiness at hearing that my coach has signed a new four-year contract. We are still going to celebrate one or two trophies every season. Thank you, Pitso. Ungabayeki mabaphefumule ngenxeba (Let them breathe through the wound), boss. tmacu

Well, some of us are not surprised at all. Well done, coach. You did a good thing. Now let’s focus on taking the league and Nedbank Cup when the season resumes. Masizass

AGENT ON BUCS’ MOTSHWARI: IT’S JUST A MATTER OF TIME

Good news for SA and soccer lovers. Phumlanimthembu176@gmail.com

Thank God and good news indeed. We love you, boy, and please stay strong. @ThizaK

Well done, my boy. I knew you will pull through this because you are strong and this time you are even going to be more. We love you,

boy. Once a Pirate, Always… xolanimguni@gmail.com

Very good news indeed. We need you back before the league starts. Q the buccaneer

Good news indeed. Speedy recovery, boy. Get well. We need you soon. We love you, boy. Black4bucs

EX-DOWNS DEFENDER: I TOLD THEM TO KILL MY CAREER…

I am not a Sundowns fan, but I think some of the articles written are just meant to destabilise the team. The article is also trying to discourage players who want to join the team. Maybe the cowditor must obtain more information, especially from the culprit, because I do not think Eduardo Ferreira can just call Soccer Laduma and talk badly about his former employer. Sundowns is a successful team in the country and professionally managed. I think maybe Ferreira did not follow proper processes regarding negotiations. How can you negotiate one day before the transfer window closes? I suspect Sundowns did not register him because of injury and no team wanted to take a risk with him. He has been paid for that six months, that’s why he did not call Soccer Laduma that time. Johnkola12

With no intention to offend anyone, I think some players don’t give their all to impress their bosses. We have to feel for club bosses because they work hard for their teams to succeed. What I am saying is that what you do on the right-hand side, you must also do on the left-hand side. cedrick wa leswaiswai

I would have stayed and enjoyed a free salary and trained and partied on weekends, frustrate them for six months, gain weight. voicemail88

It is not easy to be in the starting XI at Downs because you’ll find that four players are fighting for the same position. Your agent didn’t do his work properly because he was supposed to tell you that you were going to have to work extra hard to be on the field at Downs, unlike at clubs like Ajax Cape Town, Kaizer Chiefs, Golden Arrows, to mention but a few. Qhaf-Qhaf

That is what they do best, killing people’s careers. They will buy all the best players from the 15 (other) Absa Premiership teams and keep them on the bench so they can say they are the best. Any player who is performing in his team, Sundowns will buy him so that team stops performing. ayabonganic

Yhoo! msanisto

PITSO: I HAD OFFERS FROM SOUTH AFRICA…

You are a liar. Not so long ago, you were running up and down the offices of Soccer Laduma, telling Veejay that Motsepe hasn’t responded to your contract demands (your children’s academy) and about being distracted in your duties. Only a foolish individual will believe your lies. Chiefskayione

Sir Pitso Mosimane will never coach small clubs that only want to keep their status in the Absa Premiership. He wants to coach a club with an ambitious President like Dr. Patrice Motsepe , someone who wants to see his club win big things in the continent and all over the world. As long as Downs still exists, Sir Pitso will never sign for a club that cannot afford to pay for flight tickets for their players when they play Champions League. Qhaf-Qhaf

Lesson learnt is that teams should have a clear vision when they hire coaches. It’s time we allow coaches to manage teams for longer periods. Thokozisbp@gmail.com

Lack of ambition here, and fear of starting a new venture. It’s a case of staying where you are loved and doing things you used to do. Happy that you are staying though. Yusfull

Bobby sent a light-skinned guy, we know. Anyway, this subject is over and dusted. Let’s talk of new signings, Mr Jingles. The President mentioned we are in the process of roping in two high-profile players. Yellow_commander

We know, my Sir Pitso, especially the ones who were waiting for you to be out of your contract and they were going to make some noise about being the next ones in the Absa Premiership to have a star after 50 years existing. calender-t4t

EX-PSL COACH LAMBASTED: THAT’S VERY ARROGANT!

Maybe what he is saying is if he gets a team that has a budget, he can do wonders. Truth be told, some of our teams’ training facilities leave much to be desired. Ambzo

This is the first time I read something that makes sense from Luc. But I also think that he (Luc) is trying to buy his way into the Big Three and erase his bad attitude of the past. Remember he tried to hold Chiefs hostage by giving them an ultimatum! He cannot be trusted. Gizaretti_legendary

Luc is 100% correct. That Saintfiet guy is disrespectful. In fact, who recommended him to Free State Stars in the first place? AbbyNights

Luc Eymael is trying to be smart here while he knows the truth. Smaller teams in the Absa Premiership are run like spaza shops. Where have you ever heard that a coach has to submit the starting line-up to the management? What for? These things happen at small teams like Free State Stars where a coach is told who to play, which is a recipe for disaster. Bucs124

BUCS INSIGHT: HE’S GOT POWER BUT HE’S NOT SHONGA

Mulenga and Shonga are very good players. We need them and the coach must start using them. Shonga is now being criticised, but when he scored beautiful goals against Chippa in the 4-2 win and good freekicks, he was a good player. nhlaks tsh

Shonga and Mulenga need to work very, very hard in order to make it, otherwise other players will take over their places. We need goals and entertainment. We want crush all these Absa Premiership teams next season, and in order to do that we need firepower up front. Black4bucs

Jozi girls are responsible for these guys’ downfall. Focus, boys, focus please. Zam d king buccaneer

FORMER CHIEFS DEFENDER BACKS SAFA PRESIDENT

At SAFA, we need Clive Barker as president, with Lucas Radebe and Doctor Khumalo as deputy presidents. All other players who were part of the 1996 Afcon-winning team and the team that reached the final in 1998 must be in the committee, like Mark Fish, Helman Mkhalele, Mark Williams, John Moeti, Edward Motale, Brendan Augustine, Daniel Mudau, to name just a few. Kick out all these Jordans and Mumbles because they never played football. They just run this SAFA like their spaza shop. mbongenikula1