The deal is almost done. Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila Football Club (TTM) will be relocating to Bloemfontein next month if the club gets approval from the league.
During an interview with the president of the club, Mr Masala Mulaudzi, he revealed that they had already sent a request to the league regarding the relocation of the team to Bloemfontein.
According to him, the request will be one of the agenda items in the board of governors' meeting that was scheduled for Thursday. Mr Mulaudzi further said that should the league give the move their blessing, they would start with the relocation process as early as next week.
As for the reason why TTM are moving out of Thohoyandou, Mulaudzi said that using the Thohoyandou Stadium as the team's home ground was too expensive for the club.
Asked about their initial intention to move the team to Musina, Mr Mulaudzi said that this was not possible as the Lesley Manyathela Stadium was still being refurbished. They are still willing to consider using this facility as the team's home ground as soon as the construction work is completed.
According to Mulaudzi, the decision to move the team to Bloemfontein was their last option after they had searched for suitable stadiums in Gauteng, without success. He said that relocating the team to Bloemfontein would stabilise the club's financial position as a huge chunk of their budget was being used towards the booking of the stadium for their home matches.
Regarding the team's poor performance in the four games they had played this year, Mr Mulaudzi was quick to mention that he was taking the blame for that. He admitted that he had not provided enough resources to ensure that the team kept the momentum during the festive holidays.
Unlike most of the teams, who were training and playing some friendly games during the festive season, TTM's players had had only one training session a day before their Nedbank Cup match against Cape Town All Stars, which was played at the Soshanguve Giant Stadium outside Pretoria on Friday (6 January). TTM were beaten 1-7.