The fans have their say

More so at Celtic than anywhere else in local football, the supporters are the team’s lifeblood. We spoke to some of the Celtic supporters, whose emotions are certainly most affected by these developments at the club, and, to put it mildly, they aren’t impressed at all…

We want our club back Mamello Makha – Celtic supporter

“We, as the supporters, also don’t know where we stand and we are in the dark on what is really going on with our beloved club. There are too many stories and we don’t know which one we should believe anymore. We know there are people interested in buying the team, then the next thing people start to lose interest and we don’t know what pushed them away. You know, we are no longer united as supporters. There is no unity like there was before and it all started because of what has been happening behind the scenes at the club, which we are not aware of. We are all upset about the situation and we don’t hear anything from our management about the current situation. We have been waiting to hear. What we know is that Max Tshabalala is still the owner and that there are a few people still interested in buying the team. Maybe after this past weekend’s Macufe Cup, we will hear what is going on, but until then, we will remain in the dark. The communication between the club and the supporters has been really bad. This is something that never used to happen. We used to be well informed about what was happening with our team… now, nothing! We know that our players are not happy. I mean, who would be happy when you go to work every day and give your all, only to not be paid at the end of the month? As we all know, they went on strike on a few occasions and that is not what we want to see happening at our club. They have their families to support and they have lives to live and responsibilities. They are doing their jobs without salaries and that is not right at all! It is very painful to see what is happening. This is not what Bloemfontein Celtic stand for. But as supporters we are trying our best to attend the games, but unfortunately there are some supporters that are losing interest in the team because of what has been happening and that is another thing that breaks my heart. To see all that we have been building with our supporters starting to slowly break away is not what we want to see. Day by day, some of them are going away and as much as we are trying to keep everyone together, there is only so much we can do. We can encourage other supporters to come to the games, but if they are unhappy about what the club has turned into, then it is up to our management to win their hearts over once again. We are hoping that they will come around and help us stand together to bring back our club. There is a rumour again that there is a Chinese guy that has come on board to buy the club – I’m not sure who he is but that has been the word going around. Again, our management has not said anything to us. I would love to hear what Max Tshabalala has to say to us because people have been offering and there have been so many stories in the media about the failed sale of the club. He needs to speak up soon because we want our club back. To us, it seems like he isn’t interested because everything looks like it is not being sorted out. Maybe there is something bigger that he is holding onto and maybe there will be some good changes, but he needs to let us know about those things. If there are still challenges, we would also want to know that. He can’t be keeping quiet when there are faithful supporters wanting to know what is going on because we have also spoken out about possibilities of helping the team. People have come and they want to settle the bill, but there is something holding back the sale and what do we know? Nothing! I love this team, I have invested my life into the club and so many other supporters have done so as well. This thing does not sit well with me. It makes me sad all the time because we love Celtic and our supporters have always been unique in South Africa. Where in the country would you find supporters like the ones that we have? There isn’t any other club! But we are starting to lose that. Whoever buys this team would be making a good investment where you buy a product that is loved by people. Everywhere I go, people ask me what is happening with my club, but, like everyone else, I don’t have the answers. Those things hurt me, but we need to stand together because our players need us more now than ever before. We understand that it is a difficult time for them and we know they are not happy. Some of the players are our friends and they do talk to us. There is no unity at Celtic anymore. If we could sit down with the management to try and come up with a solution, we would be happy to do so. But how can we do that if they ignore us? As supporters, we were thinking of paying a certain amount, maybe R200 or whatever amount that a supporter can afford to give so that we can combine that money and try to buy the team. I am not only blaming Max for what has happened to the club. He did say way before that he was struggling, so people were aware that he could not deal with the demands of owning the club. What did the rest of management do? It’s obvious that they sat back and hoped that things would magically sort themselves out and now we have a bigger problem on our hands. Something should have been done a long time ago to avoid this.”

This is really a painful topic Myzer Mabeleng – Celtic supporter

“So far, we haven’t heard anything from the club on what is happening and what is going to happen in the future. We are really hurt because we want to know what is happening. We only read in the media about these different stories, but nothing is coming out from the club. This is really a painful topic. As some of you know, as supporters we are busy trying to do our part and getting things together so that we can keep the team in Bloemfontein and be able to assist in paying salaries. We want to have something like a trust fund and we have come up with paperwork to show what we are suggesting, but again, we have to wait and see what our management have come up. We are hoping that all will be okay soon for our club.”

He doesn’t need our help Gini Master – Celtic supporter

“We as supporters feel very disappointed about this financial crisis at Bloemfontein Celtic considering the fact that we tried to engage (with) Max Tshabalala regarding how we can save the situation. We even suggested to a point that we must pay R50 to watch the games instead of R40, but he bragged and told us everything is fine and he can manage. We suggested he must reduce the staff because he employed people from three companies at Celtic, meaning they get paid double. The management structure is useless because we have two CEOs and COOs, which is unnecessary. We came with a plan of opening a trust fund to help, which is currently in the pipeline. Those are some of the fundamentals we tried to implement ,but he has refused. Now we find ourselves in this mess because he doesn’t need our help as supporters.”