Gunners blame league delays for overdue salaries
Kabelo Boranabi | Thursday September 21, 2017 15:33
Responding to questions during a press briefing held in Gaborone yesterday, Gunners general manager, Ian Kebopetswe admitted that the club has delayed the payment of players for the past month.
Kebopetswe was however quick to shift the blame to the delayed league start. The elite league has been postponed twice. It was scheduled to start in mid-August but was moved to September 14, as the league office was still locked in sponsorship negotiations. The league start was moved to this Saturday (September 23) after the Botswana Premier League and the Botswana Telecommunications Corporation penned a three-year P39 million sponsorship deal.
“The league delay has affected us because we rely heavily on the gate takings. The delay affected our ability to pay our players. Although we delayed with payments, we are making an effort to pay our players.
We held talks with our players and they understand our situation and they are ready to go, as the league starts,” Kebopetswe said. The club announced at the press briefing that they have come with initiatives that will increase the club’s membership as a way of trying to boost its finances. The new initiatives include a mobile application and the VIP (Very Important Pantsula) membership package. The VIP package is worth P1,000 and will grant free access to the season’s home games and come with a free shirt. “With the VIP shirt we are hyping the membership drive. The shirt will only be available to the players and the VIP card holding members. It will not be for sale,” Kebopetswe said.
Gunners also paraded their new signings for the new season, largely a crop of youthful talent that include Young Zebras full back, Michael Tinye. “We are celebrating 55th anniversary in line with the town of Lobatse’s 120 years of existence. As such, we realised that we need to freshen our squad with young talent. We want to revive the club, unlike in the past seasons where we found ourselves in debts and issues alike.
“We had outdone ourselves in the past season as we secured a top four spot. This season we are looking to get a higher position and win the top eight. We are in a transformation period to make this club viable again,” Kebopetswe said.
Gunners will begin their campaign against new comers Sharps Shooting Stars at the Lobatse Sports Complex on Saturday.