Miguel Cardoso reacts to Betway Premiership accolade

The Portuguese mentor was this week handed the accolade after guiding Sundowns to four wins in four matches since the resumption of the Betway Premiership following the lengthy Africa Cup of Nations break.

Cardoso credited the collective effort of the players and technical team.

"I'm especially happy because it gives a lot of energy to my family in Portugal — for my papa,my mama, my brother, my wife, my son and my friends. They all get a lot of energy out of this," said Cardoso

READ: Sundowns coach calls for PSL reflection following disputed calls

"But I see these trophies as a very strong collective achievement, so today when I got it and they were congratulating me in the group, I just put a heart on all of their messages. I am waiting to arrive home, sit on my sofa and write back, but I had that talk in the morning and that trophy means the guys stood up for the moment."

The judging panel picked Cardoso ahead of his Orlando Pirates rival Abdeslam Ouaddou and Gavin Hunt of Stellenbosch FC. 

He says it's evidence of sleepless nights not going unnoticed. 

Meanwhile, after six league wins in a row Cardoso also responded to talk he was “losing the dressing room” at some stage during the season.

"I have to confess to you that I never felt that there was any kind of loss in terms of managing the locker room. Obviously, when you don't win here and there the emotions are not the same as when we are together, but we have that memory — we know what we've done in the past.

"As I told you, we lost two cups on penalties which unfortunately didn't give us trophies. I repeat, in one of them there was not even one entry into our box or shot on goal, but it's football. Of course it's difficult to raise the next day when we lose trophies like that, but the players know the direction they want to go. The people in the club help us permanently and keep us united. 

"I have always said the doors at Chloorkop are very strong. What happens outside is outside, but what happens inside is a different story. I think there is also a lot of manipulation regarding a lot of things"

The Sundowns coach does acknowledge there were tough moments.