Chiefs in talks to buy Premiership status
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Fallen giants, Mochudi Centre Chiefs says it faces financial difficulties in its bid to buy out a Premiership club. Magosi were relegated to the First Division in 2018 and after finding no success on the field for a quick return, the club is seeking an alternative route powered by an ambitious executive committee elected last month. Mmegi Sport is informed that Chiefs are in talks to acquire Gilport Lions status despite club owner Kelisitse Gilika having earlier denied the reports. The deal is rumoured to be worth around P1.5 million.
Chiefs’ vice chairperson, Olebile Sikwane said the club has had promising preliminary talks with at least two Premiership clubs. He, however, admitted that it could be a difficult exercise as the club continues to run on shallow pockets. “Every supporter of Mochudi Centre Chiefs would like to see the club in the Premier League immediately. That’s my dream too, but
there must be a willing buyer and a willing seller, and there must be funds to acquire the status. If anyone offered us a franchise status at a very practical amount, we would buy it. We have had very open and candid discussions with one or two club owners but we also looked at the fee for the status plus where we are now financially, we thought we could make it a practical amount. Also, to be very honest we have a lot of internal furniture to move around before we become that ambitious, we need to organise ourselves very well. I am sorry, I am not at liberty to disclose the names of clubs concerned due to confidentiality issues,” Sikwane said. Magosi have been hard hit by debts from the previous seasons. Magosi were recently instructed by FIFA to pay former coach, Philani Mabhena P116,000. The four-league champions also have pending cases with former players from the 2016-2017 season. Meanwhile, the club has made peace with its ‘founders’. A five-year power struggle saw a faction register a commercial entity under the name Mochudi Centre Chiefs Pty (Ltd). The move cast a dark cloud over the club’s ambitions to privatise. However, Sikwane said this week the faction met and made peace with the new executive committee but was cagey with finer details.
“The committee had very promising and fruitful discussions with the founders and resolved several things, which should be announced sometime next week. …very fundamental issues, which must now close the burning issue of PTY and Society.
The objective of the meeting was underpinned by the very same foundation of Peace and Unity and the sustainability of the club as a company. At this stage, I am hamstrung to divulge the sensitive areas of agreement,” Sikwane said.