Broke Satmos sink deeper
Koketso Kgoboge | Thursday December 8, 2016 16:00
Following relegation from the Premiership last season, FC Satmos’ fortunes have nose-dived in the Debswana First Division North League and are currently sitting in the red zone, second from last on four points with two fixtures left to the end of the first round games.
In the past weekend, Satmos woes were compounded by a 4-0 humiliation at the hands of a rampant TAFIC and have up to now gone five games without a win. Ever since the closure of the mine, things took a downward spiral at the already struggling side, which also led to the club management deserting. Head coach, Mogolodi Chepete also quit following a 3-2 loss to GNT last month and their former coach Kgosietsile Jacob who had voluntarily come back to assist the former, took over.
“I came back to assist Chepete but he decided to leave the team immediately after our GNT game and I think his leaving was premature,” Jacob said. “I thought we could work together to at least help the club retain the first division status but it’s difficult to try and sort everything out alone”.
Jacob, a former Satmos player himself, said the club is broke and relies entirely on the former director Mooketsi ‘China’ Mading. He said their previous sources of income have dried up. He said due to some people relocating from Selebi -Phikwe, they struggle to accommodate players and about seven players have since left.
“We get assistance from Mading. But we are deep in financial problems and memberships are no longer existent. We make next to nothing with gate takings and people who have previously supported us in other forms are now without jobs and they cannot help anymore,” he said. Jacob further said the team is slowly losing players because of lack of funds and accommodation. He said some good Samaritans who have since relocated on the back of the closure of the mine previously housed the players.
“In our current state we cannot afford to pay accommodation for our players and some have since gone back to their home villages. We are left with only 18 players,” he added. Jacob said they are also struggling with consistency at training as players have to fend for themselves. However, he said they will not throw in the towel yet.
“There is potential that we can keep the team afloat if we can find consistency with the players we have and of course we need to beef up with at least a few experienced players if we could be lucky to get assistance, but we can survive,” he said.