Immediate former Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi has conceded Kaizer Chiefs approached him for his services.
The defending Premier Soccer League champions fired the former Golden Arrows coach on Tuesday, December 10, after a relatively inconsistent start to the 2024/25 Premier Soccer League campaign across all competitions.
The 53-year-old had served the Brazilians since the 2013/24 campaign when he joined them as Pitso Mosimane's assistant coach.
I wanted to rebuild at Sundowns
The former AmaZulu coach has revealed the Glamour Boys were serious with their offer but they took time to actualise it as opposed to the Brazilians.
“I had an approach from Chiefs prior to Sundowns and I did my presentation at Chiefs and all that, and then suddenly Sundowns came when there was a slight delay at Chiefs,” he told Radio947's MSW.
“When I took that opportunity, I did not still want to check with Chiefs ‘ey, what is happening with you’, because I felt the project; Chiefs was winning, Chiefs was okay, but I felt it would be nice to be part of this environment and try to [rebuild].”
Why choose Sundowns over Chiefs?
“Sundowns picked me up when I was not working, I was not employed when Sundowns gave me that opportunity,” Mngqithi continued.
“I happened to get into a club when I had not won anything in seven years and then everything changed for the better. My mind was it would be nice to be among the people to bring this team back to its former glory and that’s what we did.
“At the time it looked defunct from the outside, that for seven years this club has not won anything but… part of me had this thing that you know we will end up losing good people in football, because I felt the president had invested a lot of money in Sundowns.
“I want to be part of that team because I could see the investment was good, maybe with a little of my own influence I can help. Fortunately, with God’s will, everything happened, and we achieved so much. Thanks to the club and thanks to coach Pitso, to everybody that was within the club at the time,” he concluded.
