Mike Makaab has his say on the appointment of Romain Folz

By Ayanda Nyuswa

Gagasi FM Sports specialist Mike Makaab has had his say on the appointment of Romain Folz as assistant coach at Mamelodi Sundowns. The Brazilians confirmed the appointment of Folz as assistant coach in the first team, where he will join the technical department that features Manqoba Mngqithi, Steve Komphela, Wendell Robinson and Kennedy Mwene. The French-born coach who holds a UEFA Pro Licence,  is no stranger to South African football as he had stints with Marumo Gallants and AmaZulu FC between 2022 and 2023, and also coached on the African continent. He joins the reigning Dstv Premiership champions from FIFA’s high performance department where he worked on development football, and has linked up with the team for pre-season camp in Austria.

Speaking on Extratime on Gagasi FM Mike Makaab believes Folz is a good young coach who showed glimpses of the good football his teams can display during his time at Marumo Gallants and AmaZulu FC.

“All reports that I have heard about him as a football coach have been positive”, said Makaab.

“Players that have worked under him have only had good things to say about him, don’t forget a very young coach and so it was always going to be difficult for him at AmaZulu. AmaZulu is a big football club, I know because I was there coaching for almost two seasons and I came from Orlando Pirates to coach at AmaZulu so it wasn’t as if I was coming from a small football club to a big football club, it was a big football club to a big football club, the pressure was there. It is difficult to judge Roman on that alone, what I can tell you is that some of the football I saw the teams play under him, both AmaZulu and Marumo Gallants, I thought was very good football,” Makaab added.

Makaab believes Folz can thrive in an environment like Mamelodi Sundowns working alongside wise heads like Manqoba Mngqithi and Steve Komphela.

“I think with wise old heads like Manqoba and Steve, Roman could blossom and it is an interesting choice, and one that was fully supported by the technical teams,” Makaab concluded.

Picture: Mamelodi Sundowns