Premier Soccer League (PSL) chairman Irvin Khoza has revealed that deliberations on the sale of clubs have not been easy.
Khoza was addressing the media in relation to the sale of clubs after Bloemfontein Celtic owner Max Tshabalala sold Phunya Sele Sele to Shauwn Mkhize, who in turn sold her team Royal AM to Masala Mulaudzi.
Celtic have relocated to KwaZulu-Natal and have been renamed Royal AM. They are going to play their home matches at the Chatsworth Stadium. On the other hand, Mulaudzi is going to rename Royal AM to Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila in Limpopo with Thohoyandou Stadium being their home ground. TTM are going to play in the GladAfrica Championship.
“It’s a matter that has its own history. It took three days for the executive to do deliberations. The executive always require to do, asked to do on matters of this nature that the transition must be seamless because a lot of elements are affected, a lot of stakeholders are affected by this transaction. So, therefore, it’s very important that there’s strict compliance to Article 14 of the NSL Handbook,” Khoza said.
“The future financial sustainability is one of the conditions provided for in the handbook. As the League, we’ve got an obligation to the sponsors that when the league starts we have 16 teams in the DStv Premiership, 16 teams in the GladAfrica Championship. We’ve got to do and make a decision. We don’t have too many people in football with deep pockets. The executive interrogated this matter thoroughly.”
The PSL boss added that protecting employees was of paramount importance thus they also communicated with the South African Football Players Union (SAFPU).
“You must try everything in your power to apply yourself in finding a decision to make sure that you protect the industry, you protect the funding, you protect the integrity of the space,” Khoza added.
Meanwhile, PSL legal counsel Michael Murphy agreed with Khoza on the issue of deliberations.
“I can promise you that the decisions that were made came after exhaustive analysis of the facts. These are difficult decisions. I don’t believe anybody in the executive committee want any club sold or transferred,” Murphy said.
