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Cape Town - Former Mamelodi Sundowns player and assistant coach Alex Bapela says there is no reason for him to ever return to the club.
Bapela was a player at Sundowns between 1997 and 2003 and also earned six caps with Bafana Bafana as a midfielder.
After retirement, he joined Sundowns as an assistant coach to Pitso Mosimane and helped the side win the league title in 2013/14.
Unfortunately, that's where things began to go downhill for his relationship with the club.
When the campaign ended he voiced some concerns about the way the club was managing its players. This resulted in him receiving a disciplinary hearing and a demotion to coach the MultiChoice Diski team.
This led him to eventually leave the club. He was recently asked by Sowetan Live if he would consider a return to the Brazilians.
"It's a difficult question because going [back] to Sundowns would be a step backwards," he explained.
"I was with Sundowns for maybe close to 15 years [as a player and later coach] and then to go back to them, and do what?
"I love Sundowns so much but at Sundowns there's no growth for me. I've been there and was Pitso's assistant when we won the league. After that, instead of me being big, I got smaller and smaller."
Despite his differences with the club, he is still a huge fan and was full of praise for the current squad, which picked up its fourth league title in the last six seasons under Mosimane.
