Uthongathi FC coach Simo Dladla insists he is not in football for money and will stick with the cash-strapped club.
The KZN club is faced with a financial crisis which has affected their preparations for the 2022/23 season in the Mostepe Championship.
And their preparations were also affected by the sudden resignation of coach Papi Zothwane and the appointment of former Swallows, who will be working closely with Bafana Bafana legend McBerth Sibaya.
Uthongathi FC has been dealing with leadership challenges for some time, especially after the passing of their chairman Nicko Mkhize in 2018 and in 2019, there were talks of the club being sold to now Royal AM owners but that deal didn’t go through as other board members were against the sale.
During the launch of the KZN Premiers’ Cup, one of the officials of the club Siyabonga Nhlumayo revealed the club is struggling financially and they were seeking for new investors to assist the team and week later, it was understood that there was a progress in finding an investor from KwaZulu-Natal with the deal yet to agreed on.
The head coach Simo Dladla admitted the challenges facing the club and says when he took over the job, he was aware on that is ahead of him and willing to assist the team to get a promotion despite not having enough resources.
“Yes, I know the club is struggling financially, when I took this job, I knew their challenges, I was prepared to face the struggles with the team, I come from a place where you would play for nothing, so some of us are not in football for money” – Dladla told the media.
“We came here to change lives and this is an opportunity for me to do that by making sure we survive despite challenges that the club is facing challenges”
