Cape Town – Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane says that Rulani Mokwena is a good assistant and that coaches in this role can have a major influence.
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Mokwena has made headlines recently for his very active role on the Pirates bench in which it seems at times he is undermining the authority of head coach Milutin Sredojevic.
In Saturday's 0-0 draw with Sundowns it appeared tensions came to a head as a fan invaded the pitch and then both technical teams became embroiled in a heated physical and verbal exchange.
Nonetheless, Mosimane takes the view that an assistant has a significant role to play in any technical team.
During his long 17-year career, the 54-year-old has served as a number two to the likes of Bruce Grobbelaar with SuperSport United as well as Carlos Alberto Parreira and Joel Natalino Santana with Bafana Bafana.
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He said: "You know your job as an assistant. What does the word say? You're assisting, so it should be like that. You are not co-coaches. If it's co-coaches, then it's co-coaches. But if you assist, then you assist.
"But that does not mean your assistant is marginalised or [must] be suppressed. You can talk and do everything you want.
"I've been an assistant to Bruce, I've been an assistant to Santana, I've been an assistant to Parreira and I am happy with the role."
He concluded that Mokwena – who was an assistant at Chloorkop from 2014 until 2017 – was good at his job along with current number two Manqoba Mngqithi.
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"I know you are trying to indirectly go to the other point of Rulani, but Rulani was a good assistant also with Manqoba. They did a very good job, they helped."
