Tinkler reveals master plan to compete with Sundowns

Cape Town City coach Eric Tinkler has revealed a master plan they have to end the dominance of Mamelodi Sundowns who are arguably the best team of the past decade in South African football.

City will be up against Stellenbosch FC on the last matchday of this season on Saturday with a mission of finishing as runners-up to qualify for the CAF Champions League.

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Tinkler admitted that they can’t match Downs financially, however, with the quality they have, he feels they can compete on the field with them next season.

“I think, you know, Mamelodi Sundowns are on their own plateau, I don’t think anybody can really truly compete with them financially. But I think the work that we put in here, if we can and I still believe we’re only playing at about 60% to 70% of our true capacity or capability as a team and I think with the quality that we have in our squad that is we start performing to our maximum ability I think we can compete against them,” said Tinkler, speaking to the media.

“But like I said to you before, we are slightly constrained because we can’t carry a big squad like Mamelodi Sundowns and obviously next season if we do go into CAF, that means we are going to have to strengthen the squad, have a slightly bigger squad than what we currently have and that comes with the good and the bad unfortunately.

“The good is that you have more choices available to yourself and the bad is managing those players, then it becomes more complicated in terms of trying to manage everyone because everybody wants to play, everybody wants to be in the starting line-up.

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“So, truthfully, we believe that we can compete against them and that’s going to be our objective next season, it’s to do that. We did compete against them this season, we had a pretty good record against them this season but realistically they have the ability to buy any player they wish at any standard that they wish, and we don’t have that ability to match them in that area.

“But we’ll fight them on the field with grit, tenacity and determination and that counts for something, and I think that’s also important, and I think that’s what we’ve shown in this second half of the season, ” the former Orlando Pirates mentor said.