Mosimane whipped Chloorkop cream to top
THERE is nothing as annoying, nauseating and infuriating as someone who talks big but fails to back it up.
This time Pitso Mosimane doesn’t fall into that category.
He has oft been castigated, chastised and criticised for being a self-obsessed loudmouth who spews bucketloads of bile. But on Tuesday night, Pitso put his money where his mouth is and, in the process, silenced a lot of other mouths.
By leading Mamelodi Sundowns, whose motto is “the sky is the limit”, to their first title in donkey’s years he allowed the likes of Teko Modise and Lebogang Mokoena to touch the sky and write their names in the stars.
In breaking his virginity as far as winning the PSL title goes, Mosimane has succeeded where his predecessors — dour Dutchman Johan Neeskens, sour Spaniard Antonio Habas, Bulgarian bully Hristo Stoichkov and feisty (as in touchy and aggressive) Frenchman Henri Michel — failed.
These coaches came highly recommended, with welldecorated CVs promising the world. But they delivered, well, a helluva nothingness.
They all benefited from the benevolence of Patrice Motsepe’s bottomless pit of riches to buy whomever they wanted. But the journeymen coaches left Downs in rags, trophy-wise. Under them Downs became cannon fodder for wisecracks.
Some suggested that Downs had donated their trophy cabinet to a Salvation Army office. Some called the Chloorkop outfit a get-richquick scheme. It was rough and tough as the sky was an unreachable limit.
Enter Mosimane, coming out of the cobwebs of a fall from grace from the lofty Bafana Bafana coaching gig.
And as he told Thomas Mlambo on SportAT10 the night
But the journeymen coaches left Downs in rags trophy-wise
after winning the title, he only agreed to Motsepe’s advances at the third time of asking.
No sooner had he landed than the Chloorkop headquarters resembled the busy arrivals and departures sections of OR Tambo international as players entered and others exited.
He bought the personnel he needed, departing from the previously senseless Downs’ modus operandi of just buying for the sake of it. He took his troops to Ghana for pre-season, where he outlined his plans and laid down the law.
The Mosimane revolution was in motion with the main man hellbent on disproving the notion held by his detractors that he was a spent force.
When the season was six matches old, this columnist warned: Rule out the Pitso Soccer League at your peril.
As the campaign progressed, the destination of the title seesawed and ying-yanged between Kaizer Chiefs’ Naturena Village and Chloorkop. From eight points ahead, Sundowns surrendered the lead and the pendulum swung back in Chiefs’ favour. Stuart Baxter and his men made hay while the sun shone. They sprinted to an 11-point lead. Amakhosi appeared untouchable and unstoppable as they sent out a catch-us-ifyou-can directive to all and sundry. More glory was waiting to be reclaimed, it seemed.
But alas, it was all smoke and mirrors.
When crunch time came, Chiefs collapsed like a house of cards. The hair-thin squad at Baxter’s disposal, injuries and loss of form to key players conspired against Chiefs as they sheepishly surrendered the defence of a league and cup double. Sundowns sustained their onslaught with a 10-match winning streak to clinch the championship in emphatic, recod-breaking fashion.
The biggest achievement for Mosimane, the first black South African coach to capture the championship in the PSL era, was to nip Downs’ notorious player power in the bud and cut their supersized egos down to size.
Theirs has truly been a team effort. It drew from the depth of a balanced squad and the technical team — from director of football Mike Ntombela to assistant coaches Manqoba Mngqithi, Alex Bapela and Zipho Dlangalala, and goalkeeper coach Jon Ibarolla.
Mosimane has the final say and will continue to be a platinum mine of quotable quotes. Whether you deem what he says as pearls of wisdom or dismiss his missives as delusions of grandeur, one thing is certain: Pitso Mosimane says his say and doesn’t give a flying toss if you agree with him or not. He is not one for political correctness.
He gets under people’s skin because he is comfortable in his own skin. He has made sure that the Chloorkop cream rose to the top.