Maritzburg's cashing in policy led to their demise
Kadodia offside by blaming players for relegation
Maritzburg United’s sharp decline, propelled mainly by selling key players without really replacing them, since losing the Nedbank Cup final to Free Stars in 2018, was always a sign that their relegation was going to happen sooner rather than later.
Since their defeat to Stars in the Nedbank Cup decider in Cape Town, Maritzburg have never been the same. In the 2018/19 season, the first season after failing Ea Lla Koto pipped them to the Ke Yona trophy, the Team of Choice finished 15th and needed the play-offs to bounce back.
After saving their franchise via winning the play-offs, ahead of second-tier’s Royal Eagles and Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila, Maritzburg sold a number of instrumental players such as twin midfielders Fortune Makaringe and Siphesihle Ndlovu, who both went to Orlando Pirates.
At the start of that season, the KZN side blundered by not renewing the contract of colossal centre-back Brian Onyango, who went on to join Mamelodi Sundowns as a free-agent. They had earlier sold Lebohang Maboe to Sundowns.
To their credit, Maritzburg managed to finish seventh, their only top-eight finish since the Nedbank Cup defeat. Daylon Claasen, whom they had signed as a free agent after leaving Bidvest Wits, was their key player that term of 2019/20.
Having finished seventh in the 2019/20 season, Maritzburg shot themselves in the foot again ahead of the 2020/21 term, letting go of goalkeeper Richard Ofori alongside three of their best centre-backs in Siyanda Xulu, Rushine de Reuck and Pogiso Sanoka.
Ofori was sold to Pirates. The contracts of Xulu and Sanoka were not renewed and the pair subsequently joined Hapoel Tel Aviv in Israel and TS Galaxy respectively as free agents. De Reuck was sold to Sundowns. After losing all these stars, they finished 13th, escaping the play-offs by just a point.
In the 2021/22 campaign, the Team of Choice were also one of the relegation candidates, finishing the term with 31 points, five ahead of the play-offs spot, as they occupied the 12th slot. At the start of that season, Maritzburg made another careless mistake by not renewing the contract of versatile midfielder Bandile Shandu, who eventually joined Pirates on a free transfer.
Funnily, Maritzburg owner Farook Kadodia has always positioned himself as someone who doesn’t want to take responsibility for the club’s sharp decline. In June last year, the Team of Choice boss reasoned he sacked coach Ernst Middendorp because “we cannot be continuously fighting relegation”.
Again, Kadodia shifted the blame to the players after they were relegated last week, saying “to the players, we felt betrayed by a few individuals whose questionable concessions of goals during the critical stages of our battle for survival proved detrimental”.
Maritzburg’s log positions since the 2018 Nedbank Cup final
2018/19: 15th (won play-offs)
2019/20: 7th
2020/21: 13th
2021/22: 12th
2022/23: 15th and relegated after losing the play-offs