Two more players have announced their exits from Maritzburg United after the club’s relegation to the Motsepe Foundation Championship.
Maritzburg’s fate of going down to the first division was sealed in the last game of PSL Promotional Play-offs, when the Team of Choice needed a win but only managed a goalless draw at home against Cape Town Spurs.
As a consequence, Spurs got promoted for the first since going down in 2018, while Maritzburg have been relegated for the first time in 15 years.
After Ali Meza and Travis Graham had already confirmed their departures from the club, goalkeeper Renaldo Leaner and defender Wayde Jooste also announced their exits.
“My appreciation and gratitude to everyone involved Maritzburg United will never know any boundaries. Thank you to the chairman, the staff, my teammates and of course the fans for supporting me throughout my time there, and not only making me into a better footballer but also a better person. Farewell,” wrote Leaner on Instagram.
The 25-year-old had been with the club since August 2021, when he joined from Spurs. Jooste, meanwhile, only joined the club in January after he had been released by Orlando Pirates ahead of the 2022/23 season.
However, he too, has confirmed he will be leaving the Team of Choice.
“𝑻𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒍𝒖𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒚, 𝑴𝒚 𝒋𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒃𝒍𝒖𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒚. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒏 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅. 𝑾𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒃 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒖𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚, 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒖𝒔, 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆,” he wrote.
“𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔 𝑭𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 “𝒚𝒆𝒔 𝒚𝒆𝒔 𝒚𝒆𝒔” 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒍𝒖𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒚, 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒕𝒉 𝑰’𝒗𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒅. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒛𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒈 𝑼𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒍𝒖𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒋𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒚. 𝑭𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅𝒃𝒚𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕.”
Meanwhile, head coach Fadlu Davids and his technical team have also left their posts, as confirmed to iDiski Times by his agent, Rasthoem Simons.
