Berg Clears The Air On Sundowns’ Decision-Making 

Mamelodi Sundowns sporting director Flemming Berg has shed light on the decision-making process behind the scenes at Chloorkop, where he is constantly accused of calling the shots. 

The Dane was first criticized when the club unexpectedly parted ways with Rulani Mokwena following an alleged internal rift between the pair after the 37-year-old led the team to a record-extending seventh consecutive league title. Berg was under the spotlight once again due to the shock exit of Manqoba Mngqithi, who was sacked just five months after he was elevated to the hot seat, with former Esperance de Tunis coach Miguel Cardoso announced as his successor on Tuesday. 

Despite Sundowns pulling the plug on Mngqithi’s project, the Danish administrator believes the last few months have been a success under the leadership of the former Golden Arrows mentor with the side at the summit of the Betway Premiership table. 

“I don’t really see it like that [Mngqithi’s tenure was a failure], because in my humble opinion, we are 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’ve had as a failure, not at all,” said Berg. 

The ex-Chelsea scout, who was roped in April 2022, went on to dismiss the notion that he is solely responsible for making major decisions at Sundowns, arguing that the board and everyone in the hierarchy are involved. 

“And when it comes to responsibility in this football club – this football club is a collective, it’s always a collective effort. We bring a lot of different knowledge, opinions, and recommendations to the table, and in general decisions of this magnitude are taken by the board, ” Berg stated. 

“That’s how this club works, I know there have been talks earlier about ‘Flemming did this, Flemming did that’. But it doesn’t work like that in this football club, you underestimate the club a lot if you think that, the club is much bigger than that. 

“So, I definitely take all the responsibilities that I can but the most important thing for me is that I will not buy the narrative of failure as it was said. We are not in a bad moment at all, we are actually in an okay moment, ” he reiterated. 

Explaining the reason why the club opted to take a different direction, Berg stressed the importance of making timely decisions to save a rather underwhelming season marred by inconsistent results and less dominant performances on the pitch. 

“But then I will refer to the GPS model that what was right at that time is not necessarily what is right now, we always have to look at that the key to success for a company or a football club is to always find out when will the curve start to go down and act before it happens, ” he said. 

“And then the investments have to happen before the curve starts going down and you cannot be too late, so I don’t see it like that and I don’t see the narrative like that [Mngqithi failed]. I think we are in a considerably better place and I give credit to the coaching team that was here before.”