NEWS: ‘It’s the coach who gets fired’ – Rulani Mokwena insists a sporting director should never be above the coach

Mokwena shared that Wydad’s president, Hicham Ait Menna, has assured him that the new sporting director will work under his direction, with Mokwena conducting the interview for the position.

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“It’s difficult for a coach to be accountable and not responsible. That’s what happens in football all over the world,” Mokwena said on Radio 2000.

“It’s the coach who needs to be accountable for the results, it’s the coach who gets fired if the team doesn’t win.

“The president (Menna) showed me that they were actually in negotiations with three technical directors. He said to them that they’ll have to be interviewed by the new coach and the coach must approve.

“I don’t have a sporting director and I don’t have a technical director but if we do get one, it will be because we sat down and I did the interview.

“That responsibility has fortunately been given to us and the truth of the matter is that the sporting director either works very closely or parallel with the coach or works under the coach.

“A sporting director is never above the coach in football clubs.”

The young coach has also revealed that he saw signs last season indicating he would be fired from Sundowns. Despite this, he has expressed gratitude to both Irvin Khoza and Patrice Motsepe for the opportunities they provided him to lead their respective clubs.

“No, it didn’t shock me (that Sundowns fired me) because I could see the signs but coaches come and go.

“I do appreciate what Sundowns have done for me and I’ve said it even in my press conference that I would not be sitting at the second-ranked best team on the continent and the biggest team in Morocco if it wasn’t for Dr Irvin Khoza at Pirates and Dr Patrice Motsepe at Sundowns.”