Publications
Partners
Attempts to buy Free State Stars have fallen through, but the Panyaza Lesufi-led Seriatum Trust is still confident a deal can be struck to revive the Dube Birds
A bemused Premier Soccer League (PSL); a family desperate to get rid of a club that has become an albatross around its neck; an MEC trying to revive a tradition-steeped entity; and a mysterious consortium, the Seriatum Trust, said to be made up of an Italian family.
Then there’s speculation that there was an entity waiting in the wings to take over the purported deal.
In a nutshell, this is what the soccer-loving fraternity was left with at the end of a drama-filled week that saw Moroka Swallows supporters’ spirits shoot sky high only to be sent to depths of despair.
Free State Stars issued a statement on Friday afternoon confirming “the failed sale of the club’s franchise to a consortium led by Gauteng MEC for education, Panyaza Lesufi”.
Stars said the deal has fallen through and, as a result, they were back in business and in full preparation for the 2016/17 season.
In response to how the side would go ahead, general manager Rantsi Mokoena said: “Our playing squad is in good shape and we have also managed to secure the services of coach Denis Lavagne, who has an outstanding track record. We will be announcing his new assistant coach and a list of our new signings for the upcoming season very soon.”
The statement painted a picture of a family in dire financial straits.
“Our situation had been made worse by the loss of our main sponsor, Bonitas, which left a huge hole in our club finances. We found ourselves in a situation where we had to inject in excess of R12 million to keep the club afloat. We were quick to realise that the situation was unsustainable and that we were running the risk of either being relegated or running the club into bankruptcy,” read part of the statement.
A disappointed-sounding Irvin Khoza, the chair of the PSL, said the league would expect full disclosure from both parties when the executive meets on Thursday.
“We have nothing on the table regarding this matter and all that we have is what is contained in the press release by Stars. We need to establish if this deal really existed so we can find closure to the matter,” said Khoza.
In an interview on 083Sports@6 with Robert Marawa, Khoza said one of the documents the league would request from Lesufi is proof of the registration of the consortium the MEC was representing.
Lesufi said despite missing the deadline to pay the purchase money, he was still confident a deal could still be struck.
He said their challenge was that they were “dealing with international institutions that were not synchronised with our time”, adding that he would not throw in the towel just yet.
“To me, everything is still possible and we will do everything to try to revive Swallows. We will present our case to the executive on Thursday and they will determine if we have a case or not,” said Lesufi.
He said he understood where Stars were coming from when they said the deal had fallen through.
“They really bent backwards and tried to accommodate us as much as possible, and went beyond the agreed times. I fully understand where they are coming from and I can’t blame them because they have a club to run and could not wait for something they were not sure was happening or not.”
Khoza said it could be problematic to revive the deal as clubs needed to plan for the season ahead.
Mokoena added: “As much as we are disappointed, life must go on. We’d have loved the club to be rescued by someone else in a position to finance it, but unfortunately the deal did not happen. At least by selling a few players, we are able to float again.
“We can’t say we won’t sell at the end of the season because we don’t know what will happen then. Fortunately, we had already started with our pre-season preparations while we were negotiating the deal, and we will continue to reinforce the team here and there.
“We didn’t want to go the same way as other clubs going down the drain, and thought it would be best to sell than to be relegated.”
Stars have already lost three of their players, who were key to their survival last season. The trio of Sello Japhta, Justice Chabalala and Ayanda Nkosi all joined Orlando Pirates. Lucky Mohomi joined Mamelodi Sundowns.
Stars’ former assistant coach Bradley Carnell also jumped ship and joined the Bucs.
But Mokoena said losing these players was not a train smash and was confident of doing well in the new season.
