Matthews denies special relationship with Sundowns

SuperSport United CEO Stan Matthews has shot down suggestions of a special relationship when it comes to shipping his best players to their cross town rivals Mamelodi Sundowns.

Kegan Johannes is the latest player in a long list of stars that have moved directly from Matsatsantsa a Pitori to the Brazilians.

Other transfers include Aubrey Modiba, Teboho Mokoena, Sipho Mbule, Grant Kekana and Ronwen Williams who have recently been sold to Sundowns.

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Matthews didn’t take kindly to the idea that he prefers dealing with their Tshwane rivals when it comes to the local transfer market after the sale of Johannes.

“If any club in South Africa had offered me the deal for Kegan Johannes that Sundowns had offered me, I would have signed the deal in five minutes. It’s not a personal thing and I don’t have any relationship with Sundowns whatsoever,” Matthews argued.

“It grinds me every year to look at the PSL Awards to see that they all (used to) belong to me and that’s our reality. If any club had offered me the deal for Kegan I would have taken it and I can’t be apologetic for doing what’s best for your club and I’m sorry it happens to be Sundowns 

“Where is Patrick Maswanganyi, Thalente Mbatha and Selaelo Rasebotja? They are not at Sundowns. If another club offers me a better deal then I’ll stay true to my club. I’m not true to another brand in the PSL but I’m true to the PSL and SuperSport and there’s no special relationship with Sundowns.

“I’ve got immense respect for Dr Patrice Motsepe, Tlhopie and the club. Any club that wins seven league titles in a row in any league anywhere in the world deserves it because we did it three times and it was the most amazing thing in the world and they have done it seven times so hats off to them but they are Real Madrid and I’m Tottenham Hotspur.”

The outspoken administrator was also blunt about the fact United are not in a position to compete against Masandawana who have dominated local football with seven successive league titles.

“I don’t think we’re trying to compete against Sundowns for league honours. You have to be realistic and honest about the squad that we have and on any given day, we have a squad that can beat any team at any time,” he said.

“I’ve listed my starting 11 and if they lift up their game, you can bring Sundowns, Chiefs and Pirates and I wouldn’t be concerned but over the course of the season, it won’t be easy for anybody to match Sundowns.

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“They’ve got 45 registered players and they are paying 3 million euros for a player and signing free agents and promoting DDC kids and bringing back people for the last couple of years so it’s not a realistic comparison.”