Money ball
Ajax Cape Town have set their sights on buying a Premier Soccer League (PSL) status.
Independent Media has gathered that the Urban Warriors are looking to bounce back to the South African Premiership through their chequebook following their failure to get promoted through the promotion playoffs.
Ajax were at the summit of the GladAfrica Championship table from the beginning of the season until the last two games when they were dethroned by Swallows FC.
They had another opportunity through the playoffs but Black Leopards were too strong for the lower-division sides and the Limpopo side retained their PSL status.
A source reveals: “Ajax chairman Ari Efstathiou is looking to buy a PSL status. He has already enquired about Bloemfontein Celtic and SuperSport United.
“They are keen on campaigning in the Premier division next season.
“They invested so much in automatic promotion in the current season.”
Ajax got relegated from the PSL two seasons ago following the Tendai Ndoro saga. In their first season they missed out on the playoffs by goal difference.
The source adds: “Ari was heartbroken when Ajax failed to gain promotion. “He was really sure that this was their year.
“Ajax are likely to lose most of their top players if the club doesn’t acquire PSL status.
“They have already lost Grant Margeman, who is going to Mamelodi Sundowns. Thabo Mosadi has also left the club. More are likely to leave if Ajax don’t get the PSL status.
“They have enquired about Celtic and SuperSport. If any of these clubs are open to negotiations, they will sit down and discuss.”
It is not known whether the two teams that appear targets are open to talks but for some time Celtic have been experiencing financial challenges and were, in fact, number one target for the TS Galaxy owners who eventually bought Highlands Park.
The SuperSport name may have emerged as a potential area of conflict of interest following DStv’s takeover as the league headline sponsor.
The Tshwane team is owned by sports channel SuperSport which is run by MultiChoice, the owners of DStv.
dailyvoice@inl.co.za