Green Lovers sinking in the Premier League
Koketso Kgoboge | Wednesday December 14, 2016 13:21
They are currently sitting at the bottom of the log with just five points and a goal difference of minus 13. However head coach, Othusitse Kootswele said they will not give up in the fight for survival. He said he is worried because other teams in their bracket are accumulating points. He however said there are signs of improvement performance wise in the last few games.
“We are improving but we lack consistency. We are counting on our next five games, which if we win, we stand a chance. But the problem is that we continue to drop points while teams we compete with are gaining points,” he said. Kootswele said their efforts are frustrated by the recent changes brought in the new season, which has compounded their financial struggles and killed competition.
“The new changes have crippled us. We cannot make money. The unreliable ticketing system has chased our supporters away and people no longer attend our games. To make matters worse, they (BPL) have cut our grants to P25,000 and now there is a huge gap between teams with sponsors and teams without so there is no competition.”
He said compared to last season, their financial struggle has doubled hence the poor performances. He said they will continue to rely on the current squad until the end of the season because they cannot afford to beef up.
“January window is here and we need to beef up but we do not have funds. Last season was far much better because we could raise some funds through gate takings and we had better grants although it was not enough but we managed,” he said.
Kootswele said they are losing hope and threatened to leave football if things do not change. He said it is difficult to sustain the team when sponsors are not forth coming. “It has been a while since I have been running the club from my coffers and my pockets have run dry. The pain of starving youngsters of a platform to develop has kept me going but I have reached a crossroad and if things do not change I will be forced to pull out,” he said.