La Masia Remain Firm On Status Sale Talk

The newly-promoted GladAfrica Championship side MM Platinum’s (La Masia) status is not for sale and they are in the professional ranks to compete for promotion to the DStv Premiership.

Those were the words of La Masia owner and club chairman Nazeer Baker. He was commenting just after his club had clinched the ABC Motsepe national title after beating Magesi FC from Limpopo 1-0 in the final played at the Olen Park stadium in Potchefstroom in North West last Sunday.

Baker revealed that as soon as MM Platinum confirmed their promotion to the National First Division (NFD) last Friday, after beating Spear of the Nation from the Eastern Cape 1-0 in a hard-fought semi-final, he has been inundated with calls from other club owners and agents, enquiring about his players and possible sale of the status.

“After winning the semifinals, we got calls from all over South Africa. You’ve got calls from player agents, all of a sudden now people got my number, I don’t know where did they pick it up from,” Baker told iDiski Times.

“We’ve been getting calls from club owners phoning me all of a sudden, they’ve got rumours that we are selling statuses. It’s all of this happening, where they hear this, I don’t know. My number is all-of-a-sudden public knowledge.

La Masia, a club which is inspired by the brand of football of European and Spanish giants FC Barcelona, come from the small township of Westbury in Johannesburg and Baker has revealed that they have not decided on their home venue yet for next season. But they are also surrounded by a number of match venues which are PSL approved.

“But we’ve got calls from communities offering us, please come play at our own grounds,” said Baker. “People are asking, are we going to play at Sturrock Park (Wits University), are we going to play at UJ, are we going to play at Orlando stadium or FNB stadium.

“At this moment, we have not made up our minds. We are a community-based team and we will consult our community and then take a decision from there.”

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