Former Bafana Bafana international Bryce Moon has revealed a PSL club that he “desperately” wanted to buy before the start of the current season.
Moon last played his professional football at Maritzburg United in the 2016/17 season. The retired footballer now runs an interior design business BDM Décor and Design in his hometown Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal.
With ambitions to become a club owner, Moon has confirmed to FARPost that he proposed to purchase his former club Maritzburg United before they kicked off their campaign in the Motsepe Foundation Championship.
According to the sources, the former Mamelodi Sundowns defender tabled an offer in the region of R10 million while the Farouk Kadodia-led management wanted R12 million.
BRYCE MOON SAYS HE TABLED ‘A GOOD OFFER’ TO BUY MARITZBURG UNITED
“Yes, I can confirm that I desperately wanted to buy Maritzburg United status but the management had other ideas,” Moon exclusively told FARPost.
“I tabled them a good offer but they said they would only accept if I became a partner. I made it clear that I wanted to run the team solo because I had my own vision for the project. They would not budge and I let it go.”
To Moon’s surprise, the Maritzburg bosses reached out to him after two matches into the season, with a cap in hand, begging for talks to resume.
“I said to them hell no! You guys think you are being smart,” he added. “You have taken R2 million from the off-season KZN Premier’s Cup and some money from the PSL monthly grant now you running back to me?
“I said to them they must chill because I don’t operate like that. Maybe we will see how things go and maybe come the end of the season, I will consider buying the team. But it’s my intention to buy Maritzburg because I feel I can add value in terms of unearthing new talent and establish a solid foundation base as a feeder team for the seniors.”
Moon said before approaching the Team of Choice management about the plans, he already had set his plans for the upcoming season. He stated he would have approached Muhsin Ertugral to mentor the side.
TECHNICAL TEAM WOULD HAVE BEEN HEADED BY MUHSIN ERTUGRAL
“My technical team would have been headed by Muhsin Ertugral, whom I worked nicely with at Ajax Cape Town. I like his style of play, vision and how he brings the best out of the youngsters,” he continued.
“Also, I had initiated talks with Sérgio Paulo who I played with at PAOK Salonika in Greece. He’s now head coach at FC Porto and we were talking about forging links between the Portuguese side and Maritzburg.”
The 37-year-old Moon quietly retired from professional football after bursting into the scene in 2004. His impressive career saw him turn out for Greek sides Panathinaikos and PAOK and when he returned to PSL, he played for Supersport United, Bidvest Wits, Sundowns, Mpumalanga Black Aces and Lamontville Golden Arrows.
Story by Linda Ximba
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