'Nandos' offered to Chiefs

TSHEPO MOLWANE
Staff Writer | Friday February 22, 2008 00:00

 

After resigning from Rollers last month, the club claimed that Koko had a contract with them and refused to release him to join Magosi. Rollers were said to be arguing that if they let Koko go, Chiefs would have to pay them a reasonable transfer fee. On the other hand, the player claimed that his contract expired on January 17, hence there was no need for Rollers to block him.

The matter was taken to the PSC and during their sitting this week, it was ruled that Rollers have no reason to prevent the player from joining a club of his choice. Premier League Committee (PLC) secretary Setete Phuthego confirmed to Mmegi Sport yesterday that Rollers have been ordered to release the player. He did not go into further details.

But information reaching Mmegi Sport indicates that Rollers have been given seven days to comply, failing which a new blue-book would be availed to Chiefs.

In an interview with Mmegi Sport, Rollers' vice-chairman Dumie Mmualefe said they have not received any official statement from PSC on the matter. 'Our worry is that this case seems to be given special treatment yet there is nothing special about it. We suspect that there are some loose-ends somewhere and some people are still trying to cover them up.' Though there are reports that Rollers have taken a decision to take the matter up with the Appeals' Board, Mmualefe dismissed it saying that they cannot decide on that when they have not yet received official correspondence. 'All I can tell you is that we will cross the bridge when we get to it,' said the Rollers' official.

Chiefs' communications manager Clifford Mogomotsi said that though they have not received official correspondence, if the player has been cleared, they would meet with Rollers to decide on the fee. Mogomotsi maintained that justice has been served as they had followed the right recruitment channels. 'As soon as we get the correspondence, he (Koko) will have to start training and get ready for selection,' he said. Chances that Koko might face Rollers in their much-awaited encounter on Tuesday are however slim as the official correspondence will be circulated to clubs by Monday.

Meanwhile, Township Rollers face BDF XI at the National Stadium tomorrow night. According to a statement from Phuthego, the game has been moved from 6pm to 7.30pm to give way for the national Under-20 women's match against Lesotho at the National Stadium tomorrow at 4pm. 'The stadium will be cleared after the Under-20 game for the Rollers' game. Initially the game was billed for the UB Stadium, but they told us that they were preparing for the Intervarsity Games hence we had to move it to the stadium,' he said.