Erstwhile top flight clubs Black Leopards, Cape Town Spurs and Jomo Cosmos could soon find themselves in the ABC Motsepe League, having been punching below their reputed weight in the GladAfrica Championship this season.
Cosmos, who occupy the last slot on the table, are yet to record a win from 12 outings with just five points. Above Ezenkosi are Spurs, formerly known as Ajax Cape Town. The Urban Warriors are just four points better than Cosmos, while 14th-placed Leopards are a point ahead of Spurs.
Among the trio, Leopards were the last side to play in the top-flight as they were only demoted last term. It’s Spurs’ fourth straight season in the second tier, while Cosmos have never gained promotion since plummeting to GladAfrica in the 2015/16 season.
Whether these three teams will ever return to the big league remains a mystery, given the way their overall standards have been dropping in recent times. To some, their shortcomings bring to mind what happened to other former top-flight sides Santos and Dynamos, who never returned to the lucrative elite league post going down.
Cosmos legend Lucky Mhlathe, who’s now a GladAfrica analyst for pay-TV channel SuperSport, has detailed factors he reckons have contributed to the struggles of these former Premier Soccer League clubs in the second tier, warning if they don’t address them, they’ll suffer even more.
“As things stand, it’s very hard for these teams to come back to the premiership. When I was at Cosmos, we got relegated in the 2009/10 season but Jomo Sono [the owner-coach] kept the core of that team in the NFD... 80% of the team that was relegated played in the NFD,” Mhlathe told Sowetan on Saturday.
“Nowadays Cosmos can’t keep players for a few seasons. For example, last season they’d [Moeketsi] Sekola who was scoring in almost every game but he’s now at Free State Stars banging in goals. In Leopards’ case, the biggest issue is the chopping and changing of coaches [incumbent Floyd Mogale is their second coach this season, having replaced Morgan Shivambu and Mongezi Bobe who were appointed as co-coaches at the start of the season].”
The 41-year-old retired winger added that Spurs was let down by the end of their partnership with Dutch giants Ajax Amsterdam in September last year. “Spurs were hard hit by the withdrawal of Amsterdam. From there, it was like they were starting from scratch,” said Mhlathe.
“They [Spurs] promoted a lot of youngsters from their development. Lack of experience has reared its ugly head there. You see their main striker is [Ashley] Cupido [who's only 20]. These three teams must try to keep the core of their squad for a while if they want to play in the Premiership again or else it'll get worse.”
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