'Sad to see a club with 70 years of history go down because of greed,' says former Swallows official Gxowa

Long-time Moroka Swallows servant Godfrey Gxowa says a number of the club’s directors are willing to take over the ailing club if it is relegated from the Gauteng ABC Motsepe League to the fourth division.

The Dube Birds face the ignominy of dropping to the amateur ranks of South African football if Ga Rankuwa United beat Dondol Stars in their catch-up league match on Wednesday afternoon.

Gxowa‚ who has been associated with the club for almost half a century‚ said Charles Makhubu‚ former club’s midfielder Andries Mpondo‚ Dan Zwane and himself are committed to taking over the team and bringing it back to the topflight.

“There are number of us who are saddened by what is happening to this club and we are willing to take over and start from scratch‚" said Gxowa.

"It is sad to see a club with 70 years of history go down because of people who came with the sole reason of making money and with no interests of the club at heart.”

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Gxowa added that the value of the club has plummeted and they will have to come up with creative ways of servicing the debt that the club has incurred over many years of mismanagement.

He said he complained bitterly to the former owner of the club‚ David Chabeli‚ when he decided to sell the side to a consortium that was led by German businessman Dieter Bock and Leon Prins in 1999.

“As far back as 1999‚ I raised concerns when Dieter Bock and Leons Prins came to the club and spoke to the late David Chabeli about handing over power abruptly.

"I knew then that the club was going to be in trouble and look what has happened over the years since then.

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"They did a lot of things with the club because they thought that money was the only ingredient of making a club successful.

"One of the things that cost us was that we sold players who could have helped this team stay in the PSL.

"We stayed one season in the NFD and we are about to be relegated to the fourth division after just one season in the ABC Motsepe League‚” he said.

Former Swallows chief executive Prins‚ who resigned from the club in 2015‚ was reluctant to comment and said the current situation pains him.

Current general manager Sipho Xulu could not be reached for comment.

- TMG Digital/TMG Sport