HERMAN GIBBS
Comment
Thank goodness TS Galaxy coach Sead Ramovic did not join north African giants Raja Casablanca because he is becoming local football media’s best friend as he shoots from the hip at post-match interviews.
Two weeks ago, Galaxy boss Tim Sukazi declared of Ramovic’s pending move to the Moroccan club: “It’s a done deal!”
However, the move did not happen and Ramovic is still in the hot seat at the Rockets, much to the delight of Galaxy fans, who expressed their happiness on social media. He had done a marvellous job with the club last season.
On Sunday, the media in Stellenbosch were royally entertained by a seething Ramovic’s descriptions of the poor playing surface for the MTN8 quarter-final match against Stellies at the Danie Craven Stadium in the Winelands.
In trying to spell out how bad the surface was, Ramovic said the stadium’s grass could break a cow’s leg. He said that playing on that pitch was like playing in a swimming pool. That was an exaggeration.
The PSL, the guardians of professional football in the country, also incurred Ramovic’s wrath. He felt the PSL should not have allowed the match to take place on that surface, after heavy rains over the past fortnight.
According to Ramovic, the state of the playing surfaces contributed to the poor attendance at PSL matches. The surfaces, he said, made it impossible for teams to offer attractive football, and that was a turn-off for fans.
Ramovic’s frustration may have been compounded by his club’s Fifa registration ban because of a dispute with former player Bernard Yao Kouassi, the Ivorian striker. He joined the club in January last year but departed in August without making any appearances.
To add insult to injury, after the Fifa ban, Galaxy boss Tim Sukazi turned to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland, for relief without success. Turning to CAS has been costly and will hit Sukazi hard in his pocket.
As a result of the ban, Ramovic has eight players that the club has signed but cannot be registered. Ramovic is saddled with a depleted squad because Galaxy have sold a few players of late, one of whom, Lehlohonolo Mojela, played for Stellies on Sunday.
Galaxy will have to pay Kouassi a princely sum of R1.8 million to have the ban overturned. This matter must have weighed heavily on Ramovic’s mind on Sunday when he said that Galaxy had a chance to win the MTN8 Cup and use the prize money to build a team.
The MTN8 defeat on Sunday means that Ramovic will have six weeks to prepare the team for the start of the Premiership. In many of his outbursts, Ramovic has thanked God for bringing Sukazi into his life and giving him his first job as a professional football coach.
From this point onwards, Ramovic will be on his knees every day, praying that Sukazi finally pays to lift the Fifa ban so that the eight new signings will no longer kick their heels on the sidelines.