‘Nothing personal, purely business’
Mosimane has nothing against Chiefs – he used to be an Amakhosi fan!
THE cat is out of the bag ... It may be hard to believe but as a young lad from Kagiso, Pitso Mosimane was once a die-hard Kaizer Chiefs supporter.
“I grew up supporting Kaizer Chiefs, by the way. People don’t know that. I don’t hate Kaizer Chiefs but they are my competition. It is nothing personal,” the Mamelodi Sundowns boss said in an interview.
Mosimane has been aiming jibes at Amakhosi all season long. He always calls Chiefs the “well-rested” team because they are not competing for any of the continental titles this year.
The 55-year-old Mosimane also hasn’t been afraid of accusing Amakhosi of benefiting from the match officials’ mistakes in the current season.
As a result, Chiefs fans don’t want anything to do with Mosimane – but they don’t know that he was once part of the family ...
“I know a lot of people don’t like some of the things I say about them (Chiefs) but we are rivals in the league. I also talked about Orlando Pirates in the same way when we were competing for the league for the past two seasons. Not that I hated them. It is competition, nothing personal,” Mosimane said.
“The reason Mamelodi Sundowns supporters feel that (Ernst) Middendorp doesn’t like them is because he also doesn’t talk nice
FOUR PSL titles, an Absa Cup, a Nedbank Cup, an MTN8 title and a Telkom Knockout championship provide all the evidence needed to prove the success Bidvest Wits’ master-tactician Gavin Hunt has enjoyed in his glittering career.
Believe it or not, all of Hunt’s accomplishments have been achieved with teams with limited budgets and player-buying power.
His maiden triumph in the elite league was acquired during his tenure with Moroka Swallows when they swept past Manning Rangers 3-1 to be crowned old Absa Cup champions in 2004.
And since then, Hunt has become accustomed to success.
After his departure from the Dube Birds in 2007, he joined SuperSport United, where he rose to dizzying heights of victory and fame. His stay with Matsatsantsa yielded four championships about us. People must understand that we are competing,” Mosimane said.
Chiefs and Sundowns are battling it out for supremacy in the Premiership. Sundowns want to entrench their dominance having captured the league title in the past two seasons.
The Brazilians are chasing a hattrick of titles while Amakhosi are desperate to end their barren run of five years without glory.
Before the Premier Soccer League action was halted by the coronavirus outbreak, Amakhosi were at the summit of the table. The Glamour Boys are four points ahead of the defending champions. Sundowns still have a game in hand and winning that game will see them reduce the deficit to one point.
“It is not nice when there’s just one team that is winning. We need competition because if there’s one team winning, the fans will all follow in one direction,” Mosimane added.
Since taking over the coaching reins at Sundowns in 2012, Mosimane has won nine trophies, while Chiefs have managed four titles during the same time.
Mosimane can still bag two trophies before the end of this season as Sundowns are in the running for the league and they are in the semifinals of the Nedbank Cup.
Mosimane has always given Chiefs a difficult time, even when he was at SuperSport United. In 2004 he won his maiden triumph at the expense of Amakhosi at Kings Park Stadium in Durban. He defeated Chiefs 1-0 thanks to a well-taken strike by Phil Evans to lift the
SAA Super Eight. From there on, Mosimane never looked back.