You can’t win the race against a financially-muscled Sundowns, says Matsatsantsa boss

SuperSport United chief executive officer, Stanley Matthews does not appreciate his side being labeled as one that lacks ambition, saying it is unfair to compare Matsatsantsa A Pitori to big spending Mamelodi Sundowns, whose financial muscle has played a huge role in their success over the years.

Recently, SuperSport sold Aubrey Modiba to Downs, who went on to help the side lift the inaugural DStv Premiership title.

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Meanwhile, United have been struggling to fill the void left behind by Modiba and players like Dean Furman, who left the side last year. Young players have been roped into the fray and Matthews insists that his rookies are not stopgaps but the future of the club.

“There was a time where we weren’t signing players and Ronwen Williams came in and had coffee with me and asked if we were not working against ourselves by letting players go. I answered him in the most simplest of ways,” Matthews revealed in a conversation with the South African Football Journalists Association.

“When Ronwen was promoted into the first team, he was 19 years old and he replaced Rowen Fernandez. Was I unambitious in taking an assessment that Ronwen would be the future of the club and Rowen’s future was limited because of his age. If we are saying it is unambitious to take a season and give game time to Keenan Phillips, Jesse Donn, Luke Fleurs and many others, then I think we are mistaken,” Matthews added.

Over the last decade, SuperSport won six trophies but have endured a barren since winning the 2019 MTN8. Matthews admits that the trophy drought may be prolonged, given the youthful squad in coach Kaitano Tembo’s team.

“Maybe we won’t win a trophy for a season or two but I know for sure that I have a strong football club and we will extend our record of top-eight qualifications,” Matthews said.

He adds: “To try and chase trophies is a dangerous thing especially if you are up against a Sundowns side because you can never win that race. It is like challenging Usain Bolt to a race when you know you will never outsprint him any day of the week. If we are going to measure our ambition by the standards of a team that spends a lot of millions per transfer market, that is unrealistic.”