The latest news that Royal AM could also be forced to miss the next transfer window period in January, meaning that they might have to finish the season without signing players due to a Fifa ban, will hurt the club’s league campaign.
It was reported this week that Fifa’s latest registration ban on Royal AM remains in place, despite numerous protests and court action from the club’s eccentric owner and businesswoman, Shauwn “MaMkhize” Mkhize.
The club has been barred from signing players because of a staggering R12-million they owe their former player Samir Nurkovic and a further R600 000 debt owed their former defender Ricardo Nascimento.
The club has insisted, however, that there is no chance in hell Nurkovic is getting a sniff of the 12-million big ones and Nascimento’s 600 gorillas.
In simple terms, this means that the club could also stay inactive in the transfer market even during the January open window.
Even though they have not lost a match in the Betway Premiership, having registered three points from as many draws, they were forced to start the current season without beefing up their team.
But there’s that little chance that things could be overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), the highest court for sports disputes in the world.
CAS has said that the outcome of the pending case before the tribunal could be delivered on October 11.
All these talking points have resulted in something that has really caught the SA diski landscape by surprise.
The club’s young chairman, Andile Mpisane, has tiptoed into the starting line-up and has got South Africans talking and laughing.
You see, Mpisane fancies himself as a dribbling wizard; he has also given himself the much-sought after jersey number 10 in the team.
That jersey number 10 was worn with pride by the kings and crème de la crème of football, such as Pele, Maradona, Zinedine Zidane, Jomo Sono, Ronaldinho, John “Shoes” Moshoeu, and Lionel Messi, to mention just a few.
Mpisane has also trimmed his gut by working with some kick-ass personal trainer from the East Rand who is known for sorting out troublesome love handles among the rich and famous.
He looks better than last season, but still with a tad of flab for a pro. But when you are calling the shots, that shouldn’t be much of a big deal, I guess.
Don’t get me wrong, Mpisane is not a bad player at all, just a bit of a softie from all the pampering – only good when in possession and lacks the ruggedness, the street-smartness, and the general persona of a typical footie.
In our days, he would have been that player you could not substitute because he owned the soccer ball, and that would mean it’s game over if you dared fate.
After struggling for game time in the last couple of seasons, he hasn’t really grabbed the opportunity.
This means that MaMkhize and her legal team must prioritise this Fifa situation because coach John Maduka really needs players to make it out of the woods.
We always read that MaMkhize has a bottomless pit when it comes to the Benjamins.
They can either negotiate and settle with Nascimento and Nurkovic and haul the club out of its misery.
In that way, the chairman can also save himself from himself and get the club back to winning ways.
This Fifa ban has had a rippling effect. It even affected the club’s DStv Diski Challenge team, which could not honour some fixtures because it did not have enough players.
This whole matter is tarnishing a brand that was beginning to break barriers and carving a niche in the PSL.
