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COMMENT: Motsepe could have spared himself years of disappointment had he hired Mosimane years ago

Pitso Mosimane and Patrice Motsepe celebrate after Sundowns win the 2016 CAF Champions League Final beating Zamalek 3-1 on aggregate at the Borg El Arab Stadium in Alexandria, Egypt on 23 October 2016 ©Gavin Barker/BackpagePix
Pitso Mosimane and Patrice Motsepe celebrate after Sundowns win the 2016 CAF Champions League Final beating Zamalek 3-1 on aggregate at the Borg El Arab Stadium in Alexandria, Egypt on 23 October 2016 ©Gavin Barker/BackpagePix

The rumblings of doubt and scepticism were unmistakable on the day Patrice Motsepe announced his intention to begin his pursuit of the African Champions League title.

It was a cold day in 2003 and even the Sundowns supporters who were inside that crowded conference room in Midrand must have wondered if the mining magnate wasn’t allowing his sunny disposition to get the better of him.

Motsepe had just bought the club but victories at Chloorkop were about as rare as a sincere word out of Donald Trump.

Such was the club’s impotency in front of goal that opposition goalkeepers would have been forgiven if they brought paperback novels to keep themselves entertained in matches against the Brazilians.

But Motsepe insisted that he had a plan to conquer the continenet and he would not be dissuaded by anyone from his ultimate ambition.

“I have big dreams for Sundowns but the problem with big dreams is that they are often very hard to fulfil‚” he told this writer at the time.

“The most important thing (towards realising the dream) is to make sure that Sundowns players are better looked after than at any other club. I can assure you that that mission can be realised.”

But Sundowns continued to struggle and continental domination seemed to be a fantasy‚ given the team’s failure to even challenge on the domestic front.

Motsepe went through coaches with the speed of a Gautrain coach driver on ecstasy pills and there were times when the limping Brazilians did not resemble anything close to the swashbuckling South American aristocrats they are nicknamed after.

That furiously revolving door at Chloorkop saw the back of Luis Oscar Fullone‚ Khabo Zondo‚ Angel Cappa‚ Neil Tovey‚ Paul Dolezar‚ Miguel Gamondi‚ Gordon Igesund‚ Trott Moloto‚ Henri Michel‚ Hristo Stoichkov‚ Antonio Lopez Habas‚ Ian Gorowa and Johan Neeskens.

Some of these coaches had such short-lived stays that they were fired while they were still familiarising themselves with the route from their temporary accommodation to the club’s Chloorkop headquarters.

After a succession of overpaid foreign flops‚ Motsepe reassessed his hiring strategety and made an inspired appointmnet in December 2012 that was to turn Sundowns on its head — he appointed Pitso Mosimane.

Motsepe had approached Mosimane on two previous occasions‚ but the coach was forced to turn down the Sundowns boss’ advances because he felt the timing was not right.

The club was struggling and Sundowns and was second from the bottom on the PSL table at the time. They had won just two matches since the start of the season.

Despite boasting some of the most talented players in the premiership‚ they had only managed to score just seven goals in the season. Only basement side AmaZulu had scored fewer goals (five goals) at the time. It seemed Mosimane had his work cut out for him.

But Mosimane’s appointment proved to be a masterstroke as the man nicknamed Jingles led Sundowns to a first Absa Premiership title in seven years excatly 17 months later in 2014.

Gordon Igesund had been the last coach to bring the league title to Chloorkop.

A high achieving student of the game who never tires of constantly empowering himself‚ Mosimane repeated the trick when he led Sundowns to a second league title in May.

That he’s now led the Brazilians to the African Champions League is no surprise.

The man is one of the most hard-working coaches in the world and Motsepe would have spared himself years of heartache had he looked closer to home when he first began his search for a coach 13 years ago.

“You know the irony is I had coaches from all over the world‚ and I had to wait for a young man from South Africa to show us something that we always knew – that we have got so much talent in South Africa‚” Motsepe said after Sundowns finally realised his dream.

Motsepe will return to SA this week clutching continental club football’s biggest prize and those who doubted him 13 years ago should think about going to OR Tambo International Airport to welcome him home — TMG Digital

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