SuperSport United CEO Stan Matthews has been left livid with claims that his club are labelled as “feeder team” to Mamelodi Sundowns and explained why he sold Teboho Mokoena.
He said they have to sell so they can survive and it is irrelevant where the players go.
He said he had to sell Teboho Mokoena to Sundowns in January this year and that money was invested in the academy and he did not even use that money to spoil himself to buy an expensive car.
He also hit out at people who said his club is a “feeder team” to Sundowns, who almost every season come and buy players from SuperSport.
After Mokoena was sold to Sundowns, the Tshwane giants went back to SuperSport to buy Sipho Mbule and Ronwen Williams before this season started.
Sundowns also signed Grant Kekana from SuperSport at the beginning of last term.
In total, since the start of the PSL in 1996/97 season, Sundowns have signed 17 players from SuperSport, with Paul Evans being the first in the 1999-00 season.
“Teboho Mokoena went to Sundowns and everyone was ‘oh, you are Sundowns feeder team’ and what, what,” Matthews told iDiski Times.
“It is irrelevant to me where the player goes. I have to look at what I can get for this player. If I can get either more money or playing strength and maybe sometime I will take less money but because you are giving me Grant Magerman, because you are giving me Thabang Sibanyoni, because you are giving me Ricardo Goss (all on loan from Sundowns), you are making me much stronger to be able to be in the top four.
“Even though they are loaned players – they can’t play against Sundowns, we still beat Sundowns (in the league) with that situation – there is an irony there, but we had to find a different way.
“With that Teboho’s money, I went back to my academy. I signed a four-year agreement with almost every single top talent in my DStv Diski Challenge team to be secured for the next four years.
“All those 17, 18, 19 years old boys are signed for the next four years. I tied them up with Teboho’s money. I’m sorry that it happens to be Sundowns buying the players from us and I don’t like to see myself [labelled] as a feeder team to anybody.
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“Is Stellenbosch a feeder team to Chiefs? Why don’t I read that in the news? There’s no club in the PSL besides Sundowns that has won more trophies than me in the last 10 years. No club. I understand the dynamics of what is going on.
“It’s not that we are not ambitious, there’s time to be ambitious and aggressive. But I wouldn’t be able to lock players if I didn’t have Teboho’s money.”
According to iDiski Times sources, Kaizer Chiefs also presented an offer for Mokoena, but it was 30 percent of what Sundowns offered to SuperSport, with the Soweto giants losing out in the end.
Story by Robin-Duke Madlala (@duke_robin).
