Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Manqoba Mngqithi has revealed the details of his new contract with the club after replacing Rulani Mokwena.
The 53-year-old coach has been with Masandawana since 2014. He has served as an assistant coach for the most part of his time with the club.
However, at some point, he was a co-coach with Mokwena before the latter took over as the sole head coach.
Mngqithi was appointed to lead the Brazilians after the abrupt departure of Mokwena who is now at the helm at Wydad Casablanca.
The former Arrows coach, Mngqithi says he knew he would remain at Bafana Ba Style this upcoming season despite the end of his contract in June.
WHY MNGQITHI WAS CERTAIN HE WOULD REMAIN AT SUNDOWNS?
“I knew that there is 99% chance that I’d still be at Sundowns, because they’ve been very good to me – in a number of ways, taking care of me and my family,” he said on PowerFM Sport.
“In life sometimes you have to reciprocate, when people are being good to you can’t be a monster and jump at any given opportunity that comes your way.
“But the truth of the matter is I never anticipated this. I’d prefer not to divulge was what happened, I prefer not to say exactly what happened because it was just the biggest surprise and coincidence in some way.
“And very close to the start of the preparations, everybody was in that space, [not knowing] what really happened.
“But in life we must always move on and accept the decisions of those who pay our salaries because sometimes people want to blame particular individuals when decisions are taken but the truth of the matter is that is undermining the owner of the club, that is undermining the family that runs so many successful businesses.
“If a decision was taken at Sundowns, we want to say somebody was taking the decision and not the people who pay our salaries and the truth of the matter is we have to respect their decision, sometimes we may not like them but it’s their decision.”
Mngqithi revealed that he was in negotiations for an assistant coach position with the club when he was asked to take over as head coach following Mokwena's departure.
He subsequently signed a four-year contract with the league champions.
MNGQITHI CONFIRMS SUNDOWNS CONTRACT DETAILS
“I never got that call,” he continued.
“I was in the middle or towards the end of my negotiations about my contract, probably completely different to what happened, and maybe there was just a change of fortunes within those negotiations because the negotiations were at a very advanced stage at that time.
“When the club says, can you do this for now. And I did it for then.
“I’ve just signed a contract and I’m committed to the course. I think it’s four years.”