The long suffering Extension Gunners’ supporters might have to wait a bit longer before the club realised its long standing ambition to attract an investor. Despite promises by the current club hierarchy led by Club Chairman Phenyo Gothaang that the wait will not be long, the chase for a potential investor has turned into a wild goose chase.
Since assuming the leadership of the club following the unceremonious departure of the then Kitso Dlamini led executive, Gothaang promised gunners community of an imminent arrival of an investor to rescue the team from perennial financial crisis the team has been experiencing over the years.
The non arrival of the long promised sponsor is now threatening to tear the Peleng’s outfit members apart as the team is getting knee deep into debt.
As a testimony to the deepening crisis, the team is haemorrhaging its key players as they go in search of greener pastures away from the team.
The Telegraph is reliably informed that the wait and the team financial situation has brought instability within the team and the future of the club if not attended soon will be bleak.
The Telegraph has been reliably informed that players are owed over three months of salaries and some have been evicted from their houses by landlords for failing to honour the monthly rent pays. While some players are leaving the club, the team is also failing to lure new players to join them yet the transfer period has long been opened. To compound matters, sources have revealed that the coach is yet to sign a contract to commit to Gunners.
A quick call to the Gunners chairman painted an unflattering picture of the team’s financial situation. Gothaang explained that Gunners is bankrupt and does not have money. “Players were not paid for the past two months because the team is broke. The team is owned by the society and if they want the team to have money they must contribute to help run the team. The members are the principals of the team they must come up with ideas to raise money,” the Gunners chairman said.
When asked whether the investor is still coming to assist the team he said a statement will be released before the end of the week.
In the interim, the team is still casting its eyes at the Botswana Premier League (BPL) to pay its outstanding monthly grants.
“Gunners’ money is with the BPL. They owe the team P150 000 of monthly grants and P170 000 for taking position nine in the league,” explained Gothaang. He said had the BPL paid the money, the players would have been paid.
On the issue of the team being sued by the landlords he had this to say; “Anyone who is owed monies can decide to go to court if he/ she chooses that route. I don’t owe anybody, the Gunners (society) is the one owing some people,” explained Gothaang.
The team’s dire situation is said to have caused concern for the team elders. On Monday, Botswana Football Association National Executive Committee member, Marshlow Motlogelwa was expected to meet Gothaang’s committee accompanied by some branch chairpersons and some of the elders of the team who are concerned by the team’s financial situation at Gunners.
Contacted for comment, Gothaang denied allegations that they meet with Motlogelwa who was to intervene between the old committee and the new committee.
“We have never met Motlogelwa or some of the old committee members,” he said.
