After Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso won the Betway Premiership Coach of the Season award, KickOff looks at the numbers compared to his rivals amidst the criticism.
It was always going to cause a lot of debate for Cardoso be named Coach of the Season, after he joined Sundowns with the campaign already underway in mid-December 2024.
The Portuguese coach was in charge of 21 league matches and won an incredible 18, which gave him a winning rate of 86 percent.
The other nominee, former Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro presided over 23 games and won 18 games as well but his win rate was 78 percent.
Stellenbosch head coach Steve Barker, on the other hand, was in charge of all 28 matches, winning 13, with a win rate of 46 percent.
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However, former Pirates and Sundowns midfielder Lebohang Mokoena has questioned Cardoso walking away with the award.
"Congratulations to coach Cardoso for winning it but there are some pointers as well, about coach Manqoba having taken the team through nine games and still top of the log," Mokoena said on Soccerbeat YouTube Channel.
"He (Cardoso) never really had pre-season with the team, used 80 percent of the core coach Manqoba was using, so I just don't understand the fairness in that. Even what he had, is the base that Manqoba put in.
"For me I would have given it to a coach like Steve Barker. For the past two, three seasons he has been working with a lot of youngsters, they're not such a big club but they produce quality players, they compete with the likes of Sundowns and Pirates, coming third two times in a row that's success on it's own," 'Cheeseboy' added.
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Under Cardoso, Masandawana scored a whopping 49 goals and conceded only ten in the league.
The judging panel for Coach of the Season award compromised of journalists and analysts.
