SuperSport United CEO Stan Matthews says “realistically” there’s no chance his side can usurp Mamelodi Sundowns for this season’s DStv Premiership title.
Matthews said no one will compete with Sundowns looking at the squad depth, having also loaned three players to SuperSport this season.
Despite Matthews playing down his side catching Sundowns, they have beaten them in the league match 2-1 in September, despite Thabang Sibanyoni, Ricardo Goss and Grant Magerman not available to play against Sundowns due to the loan clause.
With the league in recess due to the FIFA World Cup, the Tshwane giants are third on the table with 21 points after 12 matches, seven points behind Sundowns with the same number of games played, two behind surprise packages and second-placed Richards Bay.
Matthews said he didn’t envisage this from distance that his side will be placed third at the beginning of the season after they lost Sipho Mbule and Ronwen Williams to Sundowns respectively, and this being Gavin Hunt’s first season with the club.
#AD: Choose any unlimited 4G or 5G plan. Only start paying next month.
“I want to win, we all want to win, but you have to be realistic,” said Matthews.
“There’s no team that can challenge Sundowns right now – from a depth and expenditure perspective. So none of us are buying players around for $3-million (R52 million).”
When SuperSport beat Sundowns in that game at home, it was the first time they had beaten Downs in their backyard in the league since March 2013. Hunt was in charge of that game when Mor Diouf scored a screamer from his half to beat Wayne Sandilands.
SuperSport has been described as a feeder team to Sundowns as almost every season they come and buy players from their Tshwane rivals.
Matthews, though, insists they have to sell the players to survive, after the club having been linked with being sold at the beginning of this season, but those talks were rubbished by Matthews and that has since subsided now.
“Let’s remove Sundowns from personal perspective,” said Matthews.
– Advertisement –
“We have to sell players because that is part of our funding model. We bring players in at low costs, we get them to a certain level beyond which I can’t pay them what other clubs can pay them.
“If I can pay them X amount of money and Sundowns or another club is coming to offer two or three X, that is the time where we say ‘we cannot hold this kid back, he has added value to our club, and has achieved our objectives. All the players that have been sold, they have helped us with trophies.
“Williams and Tebogo Mokoena won trophies with us. Sipho – despite his off-the-field stuff, won trophies with us. Modiba, Kekana won trophies with us.
“So for me the new trend of players like Luke Fleurs wanting a move (to Kaizer Chiefs), but didn’t win us anything. So what are you wanting a move for, based on what? For your own personal stuff?
“So when you think the club is a pathway for individual needs and aspirations, we can’t have those kinds of players in our club.”
