Jomo Cosmos owner Dr. Jomo Sono has made his intentions clear about a return to the Premier Soccer League.
Cosmos were relegated two seasons ago from the Motsepe Foundation Championship and are now targeting a promotion campaign from the ABC Motsepe League, the third tier of South African football.
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He’s cognizant of the yo-yo tag the club has earned from winning promotion and being relegated to the PSL and said they have been meticulously planning a sustainable return to the professional ranks.
“That league [ABC Motsepe League] is trouble but yes, to be honest, we had a plan, we were prepared to sacrifice two years in this league, just to learn because we want to get rid of this notion, we go up and down,” Sono said after securing the Lucas Batteries as sponsor.
“We planned that for two years we will sacrifice, stay and learn about this league but I think now, most of them here [the players] have been with me for two years or so, so they understand the league.
“So we not saying we’re not going, [but] we’re going to fight to go up. Because it’s not easy, it’s a very, very tough league – it’s not an easy league to play in as people think. There are a lot of things happening, that the media is not aware of, because there’s no media. Off the field is not the problem, it’s in the field. Off the field, we can handle it.”
When probed why the club has not bought status in the PSL, he stated they are looking to earn their way back on sporting merit and believe that the shortcut does not guarantee they will be successful in such an attempt to get back.
“I don’t know… [why I don’t buy a PSL status]. But when I bought Highlands Park it was R50,000, now you want me to spend R8m to R10m on a soccer team? Whereby I strongly believe they [our team] can go there [get promoted], one year is nothing,” he explained.
“Time is moving fast, in 1996 we won the AFCON, it was yesterday, look where we are now, so we were prepared to stay two years because I believe we will go up this season, definitely. And it’s the right thing… don’t buy, don’t buy. It’s too easy to buy with no guarantee that you will stay, you buy for R10m and come back down again.”
