Times Of Swaziland: MANZINI WANDERERS’ WOES WORSEN

MANZINI WANDERERS’ WOES WORSEN
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Melusi Mkhabela on 14/02/2024 15:39:00


MBABANE - Manzini Wanderers players are reportedly not attending training this
week due to ongoing financial difficulties within the team.
The hub giants are currently third from the bottom, just four points ahead of
Ezulwini United and five ahead of bottom-placed Moneni Pirates in the relegation
battle. The latest news coming from a source within the team is that players
were currently not attending training sessions, because they were told there was
no money to cover their training expenses.
Relegation
“The players are not attending training after it was called off at the last
minute. “The team’s position in the relegation zone and our upcoming match
against Madlenya team this coming weekend makes this situation even more
concerning,” the source said. A different source shared with this publication
that the Ikabort Masocha-led outfit had only one training session and played a
friendly match against Royal Leopards last week, adding to the team’s already
limited practice time ahead of their upcoming match against Madlenya. “The
team also trained only on Thursday of last week and played against Royal Leopard
on Friday. Since then, there have been no further training sessions, which is
truly heartbreaking to see,” the source added.
It was reported in the past months that the hub giants had a huge wage bill that
had gone unattended for months. Players and coaches were unpaid for almost the
entire season.
Confirmed
The wage bill at Wanderers was confirmed to be at E130 000 monthly. The hub
giants, who struggled and had to fight relegation throughout the past season and
eventually survived about three games before the MTN Premier League 2022/23
ended, lost their South African Director, Cedric Mashile Mathatha, early in the
season, which resumed last October. Adding up these months from last November to
last month, E130 000 totals E910 000. However, most players’ contracts have
since been renewed. It took the team’s officials, like their Premier League of
Eswatini (PLE) Governor, in Lawyer Bongani ‘Bhanyaza’ Mdluli, Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) Diana Johnson, known as ‘Girlie’ and the management
committee, led by club legend Berger ‘Hotline’ Numalo, to save the club’s
blushes, as they sacrificed from their own pockets and also got assistance from
other parties to avoid relegation. Meanwhile, when the team CEO Diana Johnson
was reached, she refuted the claims that the team was currently not attending
training sessions because of financial difficulties.
Schedule
“The coaches are the ones who have the schedule on how training will resume
and how it will go until the end of the week. Last week we had friendly matches.
We hear everything from the technical bench,” she said. The struggling
Wanderers will be aiming to bounce back from their recent 4-2 loss against Royal
Leopard in the MTN Premier League when they face Madlenya FC this Saturday at
KaLanga Technical Centre. Madlenya won 2-1 in the first round.