Development at heart of Bucks move to SAB

AFTER the ups and downs of the last two ABC Motsepe League seasons Mighty Bucks has resorted to selling their status in the upper tier league to Sibane FC from Port Elizabeth to focus on their development structure.

The team wants to start ‘fixing’ its foundation to groom young players who will be their future stars, and will now be competing in the SAB League.

In the last season Bucks finished at position 11, having played 30 games, won eight, drew seven, and lost 15, to finish with 31 points.

Bucks chairman Vuyani Gantana said this move was a calculated one, not based on the ability to compete, nor was it motivated by gains.

“We want our focus to be concentrated on the young players, which is the U13s and U19s who will be playing in the SAB League.

“This decision was not taken based on financial gains as people would suggest but we are planning for the future of the team, so this was not about money,” said Gantana.

He said they want to thoroughly groom a strong development side at Bucks so it can be a force to be reckoned with in the near future.

“Now we are going to able to build those young stars in the team. The old players we have are still going to play with us, unless someone is called by another team. Then we will release them because you can’t hold someone back.”

When asked about the players’ response to the shift at the club Gantana said: “No, we sat them down and explained to them our future plans and what we want to do now in order for us to reach our goals.

“Soccer needs you to build your team from the foundation from time to time.

“If you look at Kaizer Chiefs and you’ll find that they are playing old players that have been there since [Stuart] Baxter.

“Because they don’t have a guts to play the young boys who have even made it to the national team because they want to win.

“You should not be worried about not winning, because if you are number two in ABC Motsepe you are just like number 14, there’s nothing special about that.

“That’s why you hear other teams complain about the league because everyone is fighting for the number one spot,” he said.