SuperSport United CEO Stan Matthews attributes the club’s decline in recent years to selling their best players to Orlando Pirates, Kaizer Chiefs, and, most notably, Mamelodi Sundowns.

Sundowns have significantly benefited from acquiring SuperSport players, contributing to their neighbor’s struggles.

SuperSport’s last trophy win was the MTN8 in the 2019/20 season under Kaitano Tembo. That title-winning team featured talents like Ronwen Williams, Grant Kekana, Aubrey Modiba, Teboho Mokoena, and Sipho Mbule, all of whom subsequently joined Sundowns.

Thapelo Maseko followed suit at the beginning of last season, and while SuperSport were keen to re-sign him in the January transfer window, the move fell through. Williams, Kekana, Modiba, and Mokoena have become key players for Sundowns, playing significant roles, including in their 4-1 demolition of Pirates at Loftus Stadium on Saturday.

“You can say that, one hundred percent for sure,” Matthews confirmed when asked if the club’s decline was due to selling their best players. “We would be a much better team if we still had Maseko, Mokoena, Ronwen, and of course, we would have loved to have done that.

“But when players move to salary brackets way beyond what we can offer as a club, number one, we don’t want to hold players back. So, when Ronwen came after 18 years with the football club and said, ‘This is the kind of money I can get elsewhere,’ what do you want us to do? Say ‘No,’ when we can’t pay him anywhere near close to that kind of money?”

“It was the same with Maseko, who came to us as a 15-year-old and whose first salary was very small, having progressed through the ranks. Suddenly, big figures are flashed on the table for him. I didn’t want a miserable player because he is upset that you never gave him his move.”

The same scenario played out in the recent January transfer window when Chiefs offered Tashreeq Morris a substantial salary. With his contract expiring at the end of the season, SuperSport opted to cash in. Matthews admitted he couldn’t match Chiefs’ offer.

“We had young Thabang Mahlangu and Thabang Makhubu training with Huesca in Spain,” Matthews added. “We are looking at opportunities to give young kids a chance to establish themselves in the European market. The training development compensation is far more appealing than rands.

“That is the kind of funding model we are pursuing, along with great sponsors like Jonsson Workwear, ACDC, and Umbro. We want to make our sponsors proud, we want to build the team, but we also want to sustain the football club. This is a model we feel is the right way for us to go. We have good things happening at the club.”