The chairperson of the Botswana Premier League (BPL) board, Jagdish Shah, promises a revamped, spirited and exciting league season unlike previous seasons.
Shah in an interview with this publication said they will be hiring new people to bring new ideas, new spirit and new innovations.
The premier league office advertised six positions in the secretariat office. The six are chief executive officer, Sponsorship manager, Finance assistant, communications and media officer, personal assistant to CEO and logistics assistant. In September the league wrote to almost all the PBL staff that their contracts will not be renewed end of October.
“We are expecting to have received applications and start reviewing them by 20th December and start interviews a week later we. We expect to have hired at least two people to critical positions before the end of the year if we could not finish with all the interviews. We are bringing young, energetic and spirited people to work and direct the operations of the office,” explained Shah.
Shah, who is Township Rollers financier, is adamant that the people they are bringing will bring the desired results.
“In mid-January we expect the office to start showing signs of improvement and in a few months time it will be up to the public to judge and give their opinion on the league operations,” said Shah.
He said those who will be not showing results will be fired: “the board and teams do not want complacency and we will part ways with those who will not be doing their job. We don’t want complacency like before. We will be demanding performance reports,” he warned.
The business tycoon is optimistic that the coming season will be better and is hopeful that all premier league teams will pass the club licensing requirements.
“We are waiting guidance from the licensing authority so that we can start working on the 2020/2021 league fixtures. We will also wait on guidance from the BFA with regard to the Orange FA cup,” he explained.
Shah said so far they have managed to secure 75% of the money they have targeted.
“We have a figure that I will not reveal. So far, we have secured 75% of the money and in one month we expect to have secured the remaining 25% to meet our target,” he said. The chairperson expects individual teams to come back as better teams than the previous season.
On the TV rights he revealed that the negotiations with the national broadcasting television station, BTV, are almost done. “They have given us a figure and we have requested them to increase it a little bit,” he explained.
His wish is to see the Covid-19 disappear so that supporters can start thronging the matches when the season starts to give the matches vibe.
