'I want Pitso Mosimane to be the Alex Ferguson of Mamelodi Sundowns‚' says Patrice Motsepe
After Mamelodi Sundowns clinched their ninth league title with a 1-0 win over relegated Free State Stars on Saturday‚ club president and billionaire-owner Patrice Motsepe reiterated that he wants coach Pitso Mosimane to become the Alex Ferguson of the club.
Since he joined the club in the middle of the 2013/2014 season‚ Mosimane has led Sundowns to four Absa Premiership league titles‚ the Caf Champions League‚ Caf Super Cup‚ the Telkom Knockout and the Nedbank Cup.
“I have said that I want Pitso to be the Alex Ferguson of Mamelodi Sundowns and that means I want to keep him for as long as he wants to be here‚” he said.
“But at the same time‚ I also want to see him grow because can you imagine for example if he were to coach one of the European clubs or even our national team.”
Motsepe added that he was profoundly happy that Mosimane has delivered another trophy for the club together with his technical team of Manqoba Mngqithi and Wendell Robinson and the medical team and the rest of the supporting staff.
“Pitso is black‚ he is African‚ he is South African and he is one of us‚ you have to feel a sense of unique pride‚" Motsepe said.
"A few months ago he said that he might have to go on a sabbatical and we have to think about that because it is stressful but I know he works very hard.
"We have a South African and black technical team and taking into account the history of this country‚ we have a lot of work to make sure that we play a role for black achievement.
“I also want to thank and congratulate each and every one of the players because they should also see this as a goal that they have achieved.
"I want to express my deep gratitude to Pitso and the technical team.
"I told them that I don’t have words to describe how thankful and proud I am of Pitso‚ Manqoba‚ Wendell and the rest of the supporting staff.”
Sundowns fell at the penultimate hurdle in the Champions League and Motsepe said they will go back again next season because continental football is their priority.
“I have a duty to South African football by competing in every one of the domestic competitions but our focus is more on the continent‚" Motsepe said.
"I don’t mind coming number two every year in the PSL and I am talking for myself here.
"Let the other clubs who work hard to win the league‚ our focus is Africa.
"We are learning and we are going to ask ourselves questions of what can we do better that the Champions League can be won in South Africa.
"I believe that there are about five teams in the country that can win it‚ we will continue to work hard locally but our focus is Africa.”