Imagine if…

Imagine the Premier Soccer League had a progressive club owner whose single-mindedness stretched beyond running his team with autonomy and cared to make a meaningful contribution to developing South African football before making money out of the game. I reckon if I was a football club owner in the PSL, I would get my accountants in, get my books in order, do my research, prepare a knockout proposal and then make a call to Abu Dhabi, to the owners of Manchester City, inviting them to invest in my club.

The Manchester club has launched an ambitious project where it aims to create a network of football clubs based in the world’s most iconic cities. In the past week it was announced that a Man City led consortium had purchased Australia’s Melbourne Heart Football Club. The deal sees City acquire a controlling 80% stake in the club and National Rugby League outfit Melbourne Storm the remaining 20%. It is a similar agreement to the one City entered into in May 2013 with the New York Yankees to secure ownership of the newly formed New York City Football Club who will join the USA’s Major League Soccer when it expands in 2015.

The Man City CEO said they chose to branch out into those two cities because both have a strong sporting culture and it helps that both clubs are in emerging markets as an important attribute of this project is to be successful both on and off the field. The MLS has developed into one of the best league outside of Europe and is able to attract quality players and football has great potential for growth in the States. So too with the venture into Australia and the Asian market which City hope to infiltrate. 

On the field, NYCFC have already hired one of the best young coaches in America as their manager and begun scouting and recruiting operations and the expectation is that they will have a strong line-up when the 2015 season starts. Having a new and powerful club with the ability to attract players of high calibre will undoubtedly increase the quality and strength of the MLS. Melbourne Heart on the other hand is currently in last place in the A-League standings having won only three of their 18 games this season. Their sale has come with the pledge from City that they will improve youth coaching and teams as well as the senior squad which already has a few coaches in the League predicting they will be genuine contenders next season.

It should be evident then why having Manchester City buying into your club would be an attractive idea for club owners over here? City would bring a wealth of resources both on and off the field, would help to develop our coaches and talent; and the buzz generated by City investing in South Africa would create interest from, among others, the locals who mainly support international football. And again, like with the MLS and A-League, having another strong team that can seriously challenge for title honours will improve the standard of the PSL.

Would City be interested in buying into a South African club? I think so. They have been here twice in the last five years on preseason tours; they have had a chance to experience what we are capable of producing off the pitch and the level our clubs are at on it. This past preseason they lost 2-0 to Supersport United and narrowly beat Amazulu 2-1 and in 2009 they lost 2-0 to Orlando Pirates. We have iconic cities in Joburg and Cape Town both with rich sporting history and culture and if there was anywhere to invest in African football it would be in SA. We have the richest and arguably strongest league and certainly the most watchable and as a product can compete with international leagues.

However, it would take a bold, ambitious owner to even think about making a call and asking to talk to Man City’s representatives. Our club owners aren’t always forward thinking and it seems to me that many like things the way they are. They enjoy having nobody to answer to way too much to give away their power.

Lack Of Ambition Stunting SA Clubs in the Transfer Market.

The mid-season transfer window has come and gone and we can all breathe easy agin after the delirium caused by the rumour mill. Well, in South Africa, the rumour mill isn't as active as the one overseas with most clubs only admitting interest in players only after they've signed on the dotted, except for Kaizer Chiefs who would rather unveil a player's jersey complete with name and number hoping they will sign eventually; but Eric Matoho’s jersey is a story and a laugh for another day. 

Anyways, last month, fans of local football were treated to a tasty little rumour linking former France and Manchester United striker, Louis Saha, with a possible move to either Mamelodi Sundowns or Bidvest Wits. Now I would have thought such news would have been greeted with inordinate amounts of excitement, I for one would love to see Louis Saha play and do well in the PSL, whether it is for the team I support or not. Sadly though, if twitter is anything to go by, much of the local response to Saha possibly signing for a South African team was negative. A few 'lols' and these (:''D) smiley faces and sentiments of "how the mighty have fallen" were the order of the day.

I think South Africans underestimate the professional league over here. It is as competitive as any in Europe where any team could any other on any given day. I mean for the bulk of the first half of the season, Sundowns, one of the richest and most successful clubs in the PSL era were languishing at the very bottom of the log table. I think South Africa and the league over here are very attractive. You need only look at some of the players who have played for South African clubs in the past and presently. For instance UEFA Champions League winner Benni McCarthy signed for PSL champions, Orlando Pirates; former Netherlands and Liverpool goalkeeper Sander Westerveld plays for Ajax Cape Town; Luis Boa Morte, an ex Portugal and Arsenal winger had a brief stint with Pirates; and in years past Manchester United legend George Best left the Old Trafford club to join the Jewish Guild, a Johannesburg based club that competed in the old National Football League.

There is a lot of money pumped in the game here, only last year Supersport paid the PSL over a billion rand for the leagues TV rights and Vodacom extended their sponsorship of Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs to the tune of R500 million. While our clubs cannot compete with the salaries paid by the upstarts in China and Russia, they do have enough financial muscle to put together offers good enough to lure big name players.

I feel that the only thing stopping PSL clubs from making offers to Rio Ferdinand for instance who is in the last few months of his contract at Man United is ambition. I often point to the example of David Beckham, the LA Galaxy and MLS when I say that local clubs need to have greater ambition in recruiting players. It took a bold offer from the Galaxy to make Beckham, who was at Real Madrid at the time, an offer so good he couldn't resist. And other MLS clubs followed suit and raised their ambitions too, which is why you see heavyweights like Thierry Henry, Rafael Marquez and Robbie Keane playing in the US now. Since Beckham signed with the Galaxy, the MLS has become arguably the most polished league outside of Europe. A recent show of the ambition I am talking about is the signing of Juventus great Alessandro del Piero who said he turned down an offer from Liverpool to sign instead for Sydney FC who compete in Australia's A-League. Ordinarily,  a side like Sydney would have no hope of landing Del Piero especially going up against Liverpool but with enough currency and a heap of ambition, not only was the deal possible but they made it happen.

Can South African clubs match the ambition displayed by LA Galaxy and Sydney FC? I sure hope so. It starts with clubs signing players like McCarthy and others following suit and snapping up players like Saha and other big name players. Hopefully SA’s football clubs can step up their transfer ambitions in the coming windows and who knows, we could be talking about Mark van Bommel joining Ajax Cape Town or Nicolas Anelka or his jersey signing for Kaizer Chiefs.

Remember the Name: Ronwen Williams

South African football has always been gifted with top quality goalkeepers since the national team was re-admitted into international football in 1992. The country has seen a plethora of great shot stoppers and in young Ronwen Williams, the trend of classy Bafana Bafana number ones is set to continue.

Ronwen Williams: One for the future.

Ronwen was born  on January 21, 1992, a few months before South Africa's first international encounter, where they took on Cameroon in Durban. He is originally from Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape and is a product of the famed Supersport United/Tottenham Hotspurs Academy.

The Supersport United keeper broke into his club's first team during the 2010/11 season after joining the club as a 13 year old in 2005. Since those early days, Williams has made the number 1 jersey at Matsatsantsa his own, displacing the well-travelled and vastly experienced former Bafana 'keeper, Rowen Fernandez out of his position. United coach, Gavin Hunt has shown a lot of faith in young Ronwen who has been described as a natural talent with very good reflexes and a surprisingly calm nature for a young goalkeeper.

Williams won the Hot Young Player of the Year prize at the PSL Awards at the end of his 1st full season in top flight football. He beat off competition from Kaizer Chiefs' highly rated Lucky Baloyi for the accolade. Williams counts Chelsea's Petr Cech as his hero and cites ex Bafana 'keepers Emille Baron and Fernandez as his mentors.

Williams has represented South Africa at under 20 level and has been praised for his high work ethic. The current Bafana goal tender, Itumeleng Khune, who, without doubt, will soon be battling against Williams along with Wayne Sandilands and Moeneeb Josephs for the Bafana no.1 jersey, is noted as saying he is "very impressed with what he has seen of Ronwen.”

Ronwen says of himself: “I’m happy with my performance this season. But I need to improve, I still have weaknesses. Like during the game when we are leading  against Bidvest Wits at the weekend. I rush to release the ball and I must not do that sometimes. But these things come  with experience and I will learn from it game by game.”

Reflex Save: Williams denies Calvin Kadi

Williams produced a Man-of-the-Match performance in their 1-1 draw against  Bidvest Wits recently and was pretty much the reason his team not  losing the match despite playing a sizeable chunk of the game with only 9 men on the pitch. He saved a penalty from Calvin Kadi late in the game  and  made some top class saves which earned United a point.

After his recent performances there have been calls for Ronwen to be included in Gordon Igesund’s plans for the upcoming AFCON tournament on home soil and the qualifiers thereafter. “I’m always ready,” he says.  “I’ve been doing well for my team and if I’m called to play for the country, I will honour that call up. However, a call up to the national may come immediately but if his performances continue, it is certain we will be seeing Ronwen Williams in national colours.

Bafana keepers since 1992:

Mark Anderson (1992-1997: 7 caps)

Steve Crowley (1993-1995: 20 caps)

 Roger de Sa (1993: 1 cap)

Wade du Plessis (1994-1995: 2 caps)

Andre Arendse (1995-2004: 67 caps)

Brian Baloyi (1997-2008: 24 caps)

Simon Gopane (1998: 1 cap)

Hans Vonk (1998-2005: 43 caps)

John Tlale (1999-2002: 8 caps)

Calvin Marlin (2002-2009: 16 caps)

Emile Baron (Debut: 2002- 6 caps)

 Moneeb Josephs (2003-2012: 22 caps)

Wayne Roberts (2003: 1 cap)

Rowen Fernandez (Debut: 2003- 23 caps)

Thabang Radebe (2005: 1 cap)

Itumeleng Khune(2008-2012: 48 caps)

Wayne Sandilands (2011-2012: 2 caps)

The Amazing Story of Ali Dia.

Ali Dia: A legend in his own right

You may have never heard of him and if you had to run a quick Google search on him, what you would find is his name listed as the worst Premiership signing ever but Ali Dia probably has the most fascinating or funny story of all footballers who have played in the English Premiership. Mainly because he isn't a footballer.

Ali Dia dreamed of becoming a pro footballer. So while most footballers dreams come true after countless hours spent on the training ground as kids and a lot of technical and strength training and whatever else it takes to become a pro, all it took for Ali Dia's dream to come true was a very convincing phone call.

See, Ali Dia got a mate of his to ring up then Southampton manager Graeme Souness pretending to an agent. The friend somehow duped Souness into believing that Ali Dia was in fact an accomplished footballer who had scored an impressive amount of goals for PSG in the French League in the previous season and was in fact former Liberian striker George Weah's cousin. Where did they con Souness? The big prize was that Ali Dia, the lethal striker, would available on a free transfer. Souness lapped this story up and Ali Dia was offered a one month contract at the Saints on a trial basis. 

Ali Dia in his one and only game for the Saints

Now at some point in my reckoning, I would think that they would have caught him out at training or something like that. But the lie continued as Ali Dia was scheduled to play in a trial match, but one that had to be cancelled due to a stroke of good fortune (on his side) and a waterlogged pitch. By accounts of former Southampton players who trained with him, Ali Dia was awful, but Souness inexplicably persisted with him. Ali Dia played in his Southampton debut in a Premier League game against Leeds United in 1996. Thirty-three minutes into the game and Saints legend Matt Le Tissier had to be replaced. Enter Ali Dia. To the shock, horror and astonishment of the Southampton players, Souness put his faith in Ali Dia in the number 33 jersey. Twenty minutes later Ali Dia was back on the bench. In that time he proved out on the park that he was hopelessly out of his depth and nothing like what he had been described as in the phone call, at one point he missed a shot at an open goal because of poor ball control. There, in front of a packed stadium at The Dell, Ali Dia showed that he was a fraud. Needless to say, he never played for Southampton or in the Premiership again. Ali Dia went on to play for a few clubs in the lower leagues, never attaining any level of success before quitting and focussing on an academic career.

I cannot imagine how Saints fans feel about being associated with the one of the greatest cons of the professional game. I wonder how Graeme Souness feels about it too. It has the plot of an episode of MTV’s Punk’d, to me it sounds like a funny story of a man who was dared by a drunken mate in a pub to prank Souness and see how far they could go with it. The Southampton fans are known to chant “Ali Dia is a liar” from time to time. Today, I reckon Ali Dia should have a place in sporting folklore. Whatever you think of him, nobody can take away the fact that at one point in his life, Ali Dia was a premiership footballer. He got to live his dream.