Africa-Press – Eswatini. This adage seems to be true for hub giants, Manzini Wanderers, who are soliciting financial support from well-wishers to facilitate the team’s day-to-day operations.
According to CEO, Diana Jonhson, despite Wanderers being one of the big teams in the country, they currently did not have a reliable sponsor to finance its activities.
The CEO, through a voice note she shared in the fans’ WhatsApp group yesterday, requested their fans to take the situation positively.
Johnson, who appealed to corporate entities to come to the rescue of the club, also warned that the club’s financial situation was so dire that she feared it might lead to its collapse if the issue was not addressed.
She admitted that the club faced a constant uphill challenge.
“I know some will question why we waited so long to raise this issue, but the truth now is that we have a very big challenge with the flow of cash. We mostly depend and survive on the little contribution we get from well-wishers, who are ardent football fans.” She said they had been hoping to get sponsors to help the team financially, to no avail.
“Everyone is aware that we have serious challenges in the team since we still do not have a director. We do not have any source of finance at all. We are just trying here and there but it gets tough every day.”
She said she decided to communicate through the voice note because time was against them since the league was expected to start this weekend. “To set the record straight, we lost in the Trade Fair Cup and from there, the players did not go to training, hoping that we will have a breakthrough in terms of finances, but up to this far, nothing positive has happened.” Johnson said she had even double-checked with the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) and was told the league would definitely resume this weekend.
“There will be no postponement and we are playing our first game this weekend.” The CEO said they were expecting some funds from the PLE, but were delayed since the team had to repay a certain debt.
contributions
“They (PLE) will make the deductions and then give us the balance. We are hoping to get those little funds from them before the end of the week.” She then appealed to the Wanderers family for contributions.
“We were expected to start training on Monday but we could not. Our wish is to start training as soon as possible.” She said any amount of contribution was welcome, as it would go a long way.
“We need at least E1 200 for the players to attend training a day. We also need E1 000 to fill up our kombi for the daily operations. We are pleading for your assistance so that we can honour our first game of the league.” She said the situation was so dire because they were not even able to sign the players they wanted. “We cannot even pay E3 000 to E4 000 to get the best players we want. We are trying to make ends meet but it is tough. We need your helping hands as the Wanderers family. The CEO said the contributions would go a long way as players were currently not training.
“If the players do not attend training this week, then we are in a fix because they also did not train the whole of last week. All those with willing hearts are welcome to assist us. God bless you all as you make contributions. “Most of our fans just feel good when they associate with this team. I just wish they can chip in financially and support the players to continue shining.” Wanderers jinx comes in the midst of the team not being lucky to get a replacement of a director since the departure of Sandile ‘Chief’ Dlamini last year. Other would-be directors have been linked with the team but their names have vanished like morning dew, as the ‘deals’ have not materialised.
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