Bloemfontein Celtic say reports that the club has already been sold to a Kimberley businessman are “untruthful and misleading”‚ according to a statement on Tuesday.
A number of media outlets have reported that a mystery Northern Cape businessman wants to buy the club for R45-million‚ and will relocate it to Kimberley by 2020.
This has sparked unrest in Mangaung‚ with some Celtic fans burning tyres in the streets as they protest the potential sale of one of the best supported clubs in the Premier Soccer League.
“The story that was published on Friday‚ 25 May in the Daily Sun‚ claiming that Celtic has been sold to an anonymous Kimberley businessman is untruthful and misleading‚” Celtic said.
“The author chose to ignore certain journalistic basics to verify his claims.
“Unfortunately‚ the supporters have been misinformed and as a result there has been tension in Mangaung with Masele taking to the streets to protest.”
But despite this‚ Tshabalala has admitted that the club is for sale and that all of the bids he has received so far have been from outside of the Free State province.
Tshabalala’s own business interest have taken a knock‚ he told the Sunday Times one week ago‚ and their MTN sponsorship is now also up and will not be renewed‚ effectively costing the club some R21-million annually.
The real test of any serious bid from Kimberley‚ or elsewhere‚ will be if it is brought before the Premier Soccer League’s executive committee for approval.
The exco have brought forward their usual last-Thursday-of-the-month meeting to Tuesday to coincide with the PSL awards.
If nothing is tabled by Celtic‚ any proposed sale would have to wait until the end of June.
Allowing the club to move from Bloemfontein would come as a blow to the league though.
But they also cannot allow Celtic to continue its current condition for there is every chance they might default on their obligations and create not only a major headache for the PSL but also much embarrassment.
Already in the last months the club has been bedevilled with reports of players not being paid on time‚ and coach Veselin Jelusic not receiving his full salary for the previous two months.
The current situation at the club is described as “chaos”.
Officials cannot even communicate with each other because their mobile phone contracts have been closed.
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