Former Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Manqoba Mngqithi faces the harsh reality of leaving a big club as a South African coach.
The disparity in salaries, job security and overall professionalism is huge between most PSL clubs and the big teams, including Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates.After spending nearly 11 years at Sundowns, Mngqithi did not have the luxury of becoming his own man for long, as he only got a head coach position in July 2024.
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As the relationship between former head coach Pitso Mosimane and Masandawana was becoming strenuous after they won the 2019/20 campaign, 'Jingles' could not resist approaches by Al Ahly during the off-season. The former Bafana Bafana head coach left the Tshwane giants with four league titles, a CAF Champions League and four domestic cups, among his major achievements.
Mokwena, after initially leaving Sundowns to join Orlando Pirates in 2017 - found himself out in the cold when he was sent out on loan to Chippa United in 2020 for three months, after he was relieved of his duties at the Soweto giants as a caretaker coach. After improving his coaching pedigree as a co-coach between 2020 and 2022, the 37-year-old coach made a massive impression in the 2023/24 campaign as a sole head coach, after winning the league title and the African Football League.
A shock fall out between the Soweto native coach and Sundowns meant one man's trash is another man's treasure for Wydad Casablanca, who could not miss out an opportunity to appoint a man who beat them in the AFL final.
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Mosimane and Mokwena going away from South Africa have ensured they maintained and increased their earnings as coaches. However, for Mngqithi, the grass does not look greener on the side and in terms of salary expectations in other clubs in the PSL, he could get only around 10 to 20 percent of what he was getting at Sundowns.
In terms of job security, the 53-year-old coach could lean on Golden Arrows, where he spent nearly three years in his first stint between 2007 and 2010. The KwaZulu-Natal side also came to the rescue of Steve Komphela, after the well spoken tactician ditched Bloemfontein Celtic, where he faced horrible conditions of delayed and sometimes non payment of salaries and threadbare facilities, not to mention a package that he could have deemed a stipend, after leaving the comforts of Kaizer Chiefs.
Ironically, after Komphela was recruited by Sundowns in 2020, he had to leave the club after he allegedly had differences with Mokwena who was made head coach last year but after joining Moroka Swallows, the veteran coach had the worst conditions, after he did not return in the new year, 2024, following a player striker over unpaid salaries.
The former Chiefs coach resurfaced at Abafana Bes'thende again before he was recalled by Mngqithi at Masandawana in the off-season.