HARARE - Harare City chairperson Alois Masepe says the Sunshine Boys will only consider the Premier Soccer League’s (PSL) offer to fill the void left by How Mine if it does not involve any monetary transactions.
Masepe said as Harare City, they had already made peace with the idea of playing in less fashionable league of Division One and are not prepared to buy any franchise from the top flight league.
This comes after reports that the Sunshine Boys had entered into negotiations with the now-defunct How Mine to purchase their franchise.
Speaking to the Daily News yesterday, Masepe made it clear that, despite the enticing offer by the PSL, his executive will meet today and make further consultations before they can accept the deal.
“I think as Harare City we made it very clear from the start that we will not buy any franchise. We came to terms that we were relegated and for us we saw many advantages of playing in Division One,” Masepe said.
“We felt if we play in Division One it will enable us continue with our objective of developing players. But now an offer has been tabled to us which means we will have to sit down as an executive to make a decision.
“There is need for consultations internally as well as from our technical team. We had tasked our technical team to assemble a team capable of making an impact in Division One and now we will have to see if that same team can be able to compete at top level.
“So we will meet tomorrow (today) and evaluate our position then we can make a decision. But what we are not going to do is to buy a franchise that will not happen.”
The Premier Soccer League yesterday issued a statement confirming they had offered Harare City to take the place vacated by How Mine ahead of the 2018 Castle Lager Premiership season.
“The Premier Soccer League would like to advise its stakeholders that How Mine Football Club has withdrawn from the Premier Soccer League,” read the statement.
“How Mine has been a member of the PSL since 2013. The PSL Emergency Committee, at its meeting held on Saturday, February 25, 2018 resolved to replace How Mine with Harare City which finished in 15th place in the 2017 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League season.
“In the event that Harare City are unable to take up the slot left by How Mine, the team that finished on 16th place will considered. The League would like to thank How Mine for participating in the PSL for the past five years.”
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