Moroka Swallows' relegation to the obscurity of the SAB League is a shame for South African football and a warning to other teams, says Jomo Cosmos owner Jomo Sono.
Sono said the collapse of the once-mighty Dube Birds at the weekend, for which any recovery in the foreseeable future seemed highly unlikely, was a warning that no team could survive on reputation alone.
"It's football. African Wanderers are gone, Witbank Black Aces are sold, teams will come and go," Sono said. "We cannot cry over that. I have to worry about where Cosmos are going. Because Cosmos can also get there, I have to focus on Cosmos. It's a shame. But all great teams do go down."
Swallows were relegated from the Motsepe League with a 2-1 defeat to Orange Vaal Professionals on Saturday.
Swallows' demise from the Premier Soccer League in 2014-2015 to further relegation from the National First Division last season, then the ABC Motsepe League this season, followed years of abysmal management of one of the original giants of South African football.
Asked if Cosmos could take lessons from the Swallows' self-implosion, Sono said: "I wouldn't know because I don't know what was happening there.
"I can't learn anything from the failure of other people. You can learn only from your failures."
Yoyo team Cosmos - back and forth between the PSL and NFD in the past decade - are in eighth place in the First Division.
- TMG Digital
Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package. 