“Look, for me, it sounds like a business transaction. It is the same deal that happened with [now-defunct Bidvest] Wits. You sell a club that has 99 years of history and the following year the club gets sold again,” he told Sowetan on Tuesday.
“Will Celtic hold on to SuperSport’s name and history? Because once it goes to Bloemfontein and it’s Celtic, no one will think about the club any more. For me, the sad thing is how we got to where we are now.
“For a club to be in the bottom half of the league table – a club such as SuperSport, which has always been in the top eight – what has gone wrong? I think that’s what we need to probably get behind.”
One of Katza’s concerns is that SuperSport will lose their academy, which has produced players such as Ronwen Williams, Daine Klate and Thalente Mbatha, among many others.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen to the academy because we all know that almost every team in the PSL has a player who comes to the SuperSport academy.”
SuperSport CEO Stan Matthews and McKenzie spokesperson Stacey-Lee Khojane could not be reached for comment by the time of going to print.
Matthews has previously not hidden Matsatsantsa’s financial struggles, reasoning that this was behind the club management’s decision to cash in on their best talent. In the past three years, SuperSport has sold no fewer than eight stars, including Bafana skipper Williams, Grant Kekana, Sipho Mbule, Aubrey Modiba, Thapelo Maseko and Teboho Mokoena to Mamelodi Sundowns, while Mbatha, Patrick Maswanganyi and Selaelo Rasebotja were sold to Orlando Pirates.
SowetanLIVE
Sad day if Celtic buys SuperSport – ex-skipper Katza
Matsatsantsa legend concerned that the club's academy will be closed down
Image: Charle Lombard/Gallo Images
Former SuperSport United skipper Ricardo Katza says it would be a sad day in SA football if the club sells itself to Bloemfontein Celtic.
Reports emerged on Friday that SuperSport could sell their Premiership status to Celtic with the help of minister of sports, arts & culture Gayton McKenzie, who apparently plans to revive Phunya Sele Sele.
Celtic were sold to Royal AM before the start of the 2021/22 season. Royal have since been expelled from the league after a troubled two years, which saw them cop a Fifa ban and fall foul of the taxman.
Katza, who spent more than a decade at Matsatsantsa, didn’t hide his disappointment at the news of SuperSport’s potential extinction.
Image: Samuel Shivambu
“Look, for me, it sounds like a business transaction. It is the same deal that happened with [now-defunct Bidvest] Wits. You sell a club that has 99 years of history and the following year the club gets sold again,” he told Sowetan on Tuesday.
“Will Celtic hold on to SuperSport’s name and history? Because once it goes to Bloemfontein and it’s Celtic, no one will think about the club any more. For me, the sad thing is how we got to where we are now.
“For a club to be in the bottom half of the league table – a club such as SuperSport, which has always been in the top eight – what has gone wrong? I think that’s what we need to probably get behind.”
One of Katza’s concerns is that SuperSport will lose their academy, which has produced players such as Ronwen Williams, Daine Klate and Thalente Mbatha, among many others.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen to the academy because we all know that almost every team in the PSL has a player who comes to the SuperSport academy.”
SuperSport CEO Stan Matthews and McKenzie spokesperson Stacey-Lee Khojane could not be reached for comment by the time of going to print.
Matthews has previously not hidden Matsatsantsa’s financial struggles, reasoning that this was behind the club management’s decision to cash in on their best talent. In the past three years, SuperSport has sold no fewer than eight stars, including Bafana skipper Williams, Grant Kekana, Sipho Mbule, Aubrey Modiba, Thapelo Maseko and Teboho Mokoena to Mamelodi Sundowns, while Mbatha, Patrick Maswanganyi and Selaelo Rasebotja were sold to Orlando Pirates.
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