A STRANGE WAY TO DO BUSINESS

The transfer window is one of the most exciting periods in any football fan’s calendar, be it Africa, Europe or any corner of the globe. Big clubs go bigger, trying to bolster their squads; mid-table teams do their best to tie their stars into long-term contracts in order to ward off interest from the big guns; the so-called smaller teams wait for quality veterans to be released with the hope of snatching them at a bargain rate. This is all part of the hectic nature of the transfer window, and we all love it. But as exciting as this is, the transfer window in South African football is also a very strange time. While most clubs around the world secure their players with contracts long before existing ones come to an end, local clubs bizarrely wait until the end of an existing contract before finally rushing to the negotiation table. And when players refuse to commit or sign new deals, they are often labeled ‘big-headed’, ‘selfish’ and ‘money hungry’. Why is this? Thus far no club official has been able to give me a good answer! Some examples: last season Kaizer Chiefs lost top defender Tefu Mashamaite and midfielder Mandla Masango, both of whom left on free transfers (the same almost happened with Itumeleng Khune and George Lebese!). Had Chiefs started negotiations with these players earlier, surely they would have been able to retain them? Alternatively, the sooner they realised the players were not going to sign, the earlier they would have been able to put them up for transfer, driving a better fee and therefore revenue for the club? Basic common sense, isn’t it? But clearly common sense is not so common in this neck of the woods. The same thing happened this season when their reliable midfielder and our cover star Reneilwe Letsholonyane’s contract came to an end, as did that of talented goalkeeper Reyaad Pieterse. Next season ‘Yeye’ and Pieterse will team up with Stuart Baxter at SuperSport United, and the team will definitely be stronger for it. Mamelodi Sundowns have their own example … at the time of writing, the Brazilians’ captain Ramahlwe Mphahlele (pictured) had 15 days remaining on his contract with the club. Since joining Sundowns from Moroka Swallows, ‘Rama’ has been one of the most consistent and reliable players in a period when the club has experienced great success … and yet Sundowns waited until his contract expired before starting negotiations? Coach Pitso Mosimane, who won almost every trophy with the club, didn’t have a new contract when the group stages of the CAF Champions League kicked off. This is something that really baffles me. Hopefully sometime in the near future, PSL clubs will wake up and things will change! To change the subject to a much sadder note, this month we bid farewell to three influential coaches. Ted Dumitru, Stephen Keshi and Shaibu Amodu all passed away in May and June respectively. We pay tribute to the three icons on pages 50 to 53.