Former Orlando Pirates and SuperSport United winger Daine Klate has weighed in on the reports that Matsatsantsa are up for sale.
Matsatsantsa have been in the news with rumours claiming that the club could be selling its status amid financial struggles in the past few years.
In recent seasons, SuperSport has struggled to retain its top players as they’ve been poached by the so-called ‘big three’ clubs in Pirates, Kaizer Chiefs, and Mamelodi Sundowns.
The Tshwane-based side lost key players such as Ronwen Williams, Teboho Mokoena, Aubrey Modiba, Grant Kekana, Thapelo Maseko, Patrick Maswanganyi, Thalente Mbatha, and Tashreeq Morris in recent years. On the other hand, SuperSport has found it difficult to compete in the transfer market and replace their big-name players.
In the just-ended campaign, the Spartans struggled for form, which saw them finish in the bottom half of the Betway Premiership table.
As a result of the inconsistent form, SuperSport sacked head coach Gavin Hunt a few months ago, with Andre Arendse taking over the coaching job on an interim basis.
WHAT KLATE SAID ABOUT THE POTENTIAL SUPERSPORT UNITED SALE
With the rumours making the rounds about the potential sale of SuperSport, Klate said that running a football club in the PSL is difficult without a sponsor.
The retired left-winger was part of the SuperSport team that won three successive league titles between 2008 and 2010 under the guidance of Hunt. He played over 100 games for the club with 25 goals and 23 assists to his name, as per Transfermarkt.
“The business side of football is what people don’t see and don’t know. I think running a football club in the PSL is a difficult thing without sponsors,” Klate said on Soccer Beat.
“SuperSport have been sustainable, they’ve been running through MultiChoice, there are things we don’t know business-wise to come to this decision [the sale rumours].
“Emotionally, it’s not a good thing to have lost a team like Bidvest Wits that used to produce a lot of young players. It’s similar to what SuperSport has been doing, and Sundowns are going to shift to Stellenbosch [FC] now because their hunting ground used to be SuperSport.”
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