SuperSport United CEO Stan Matthews has echoed the points made by Dan Malesela that the other 15 clubs have to find a way to be strategically smart to compete with money-spinning – Mamelodi Sundowns.
Matthews says Sundowns’ money spending is not artificial and he wished that it could be the same with his club and coach Gavin Hunt would love that.
The former PSL CEO also added that they overspent when Stuart Baxter was the coach of the club, but in a way it was worth it as they won two Nedbank Cup trophies in two seasons on the bounce – 2015/16 and 2016/17 seasons.
He said afterwards the pain was felt as they had heavy hitters such as Thuso Phala, Jeremy Brockie, Michale Morton, Morgan Mould, Dove Wome, Kingston Nkhatha, Dean Furman, Reneilwe Letsholonyane and Mandla Masango, as they were on big salaries.
But he said clubs who are spending big are a world phenomenon, counting Chelsea in the English Premier League who smashed the British record of transfers in the January transfer window alone.
“We have casualties in the PSL. Clubs like Bidvest Wits are not with us anymore. Bloemfontein Celtic isn’t with us anymore,” said Matthews, who SuperSport at once were rumoured to be up for the market during the off-season last term.
“So we also need to be responsible as football, the holistic industry, to make sure that clubs can sustain themselves and be around in 10 or 15 years’ time. And not try to keep up with artificial spending.
“On the one hand, it is a free market (in the PSL because there is no Financial Fair Play, FFP), and if they have got the way in all and the capacity in any club to give themselves 20-30 nice players, good luck. We can’t resent that, we have to find what is true to us, each club.
“I can only speak for my club, I can’t speak for other clubs.
“For us, we tried not to be tempted not to go and we have in the past overspent openly. When Baxter was the coach, we had a team that lost a lot of money…
“We had spiked the budget to such a level where we were locked in with player contracts and when you don’t win the Nedbank Cup the next year, you don’t get the prize money and you don’t get these things, shareholders are asking, what is going on here?
“You spent all that money and the money doesn’t necessarily translate to success. So for us, we have to find a model that is right for us, that is why we box as we box.
“It is why sometimes I will take criticism of being the selling club – that you are Sundowns development, you are Sundowns feeder and whatever.
“But I still got the club that in the 23rd year in the top eight, safe and stable.”
