Linda Moreotsene

Linda Moreotsene

Despite the widely reported demise of Mamelodi Sundowns coach Trott Moloto indications are that he will stay at Downs, regardless of whether Henri Michel takes over or not.

Sources close to Downs have said the imminent arrival of a manager - rumoured to be French coach Michel - is not a threat to Moloto and his technical team because club chairman Patrice Motsepe had given his word that they will be retained, regardless of who ends up calling the shots at Downs.

"The technical team was consulted before the whole thing was announced to the media, and they had no problem with it. All these reports in the media are starting to look like some kind of a racist campaign, aimed at undermining the efforts of blacks leading a big team like Sundowns," said one source.

He pointed out that coach Mich D'Avray has not won a single league match at Celtic but the media is silent on that, just as nobody said anything when highly rated Gordon Igesund's Maritzburg United got a 5-0 pasting from SuperSport United.

Motsepe announced at the press conference that he will be unwilling to employ anyone who will want to bring his own technical team.

As speculation continues to rage and some publications have confirmed Michel as the new man at Downs, the club itself has kept mum, with Mahlatse Mphahlele, their media and communications manager only willing to say that the interview process is still under way, and that Michel is just one candidate.

Michel has coached the national teams of France, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Morocco and Tunisia .