Mamelodi Sundowns Sporting Director Flemming Berg insists the team is now in a better place as opposed to five months ago.

The defending Premier Soccer League champions parted ways with Rulani Mokwena in July and was replaced by Manqoba Mngqithi. The former Golden Arrows tactician added Steve Komphela to his technical team alongside former AmaZulu coach Romain Folz.

However, after an inconsistent start to the ongoing 2024/25 season, Mngqithi was fired alongside Folz, paving the way for the former Esperance coach Miguel Cardoso and his team. Komphela and Kennedy Mweene were the only ones left by the Portuguese.

Berg is confident the changes done have improved the team, and that the new man will help Masandawana win targeted crowns.

I won’t buy failure narratives

“I don’t see it like that because we are, in my humble opinion, in a much better place now than we were five months ago. I don’t consider the past few months and the journey that we have had as a failure at all,” he stated.

“When it comes to responsibilities in this club, it is a collective effort. We bring a lot of different knowledge, opinions, and recommendations to the table. And the general decisions of this magnitude are taken by the board. That’s what the club does, and I know there have been talks about me doing this and doing that.

“But it doesn’t work like that in this club. The club is much better than that, so I take all the responsibilities that I can, but the most important thing for me to say is that I would not buy the narrative of failure, not at all, as it was said,” he added.

The Mandate of Cardoso is very clear…

Berg insists the 52-year-old coach has no option but to deliver trophies as anticipated.

“The investments have to happen before they start going down. I will give a lot of credit to the coaching team that was here before because we’re are in a significantly better place, I’m sure about that.

“The mandate for any head coach of Sundowns is very clear, it’s to win every competition we participate in,” he continued.

“If that’s the possibility for the [Fifa] Club World Cup, I will let other people make that evaluation but, in general, that’s the mandate for all head coaches at the club; and for coach Miguel.”

Miguel’s journey starts on Sunday with the Caf Champions League Group B game against Raja Casablanca.