P1 million for Gunners per season!

Extension Gunners may be winning the battle to find an alternative financer against selling any part of the club to investors. A milestone in their SOS mission was reached last week when the club’s management was finally able to meet and talk to Choppies Group Executive Director Farouk Ismail over a possible financial deal.

The meeting which was reportedly fruitful was attended from the Gunners’ side by Club Chairman Kitso Dlamini, his deputy Oduetse Langwane and the club’s Marketing Director Cassim Dada. An impeccable source close to the latest development revealed that Farouk warmed up to the idea of bankrolling the club but was not prepared to buy any stake in it. Gunners had proposed that he buys the club to help them ward off the temptation of selling it to the celebrated Ghodrati family which have since tabled an offer to buy 70 percent of the club. But Gunners, who have seriously considered this Ghodratis’ offer for some time, have not been comfortable because of the initial conditions that had been put forward by the rich family.

Although reports say the family later withdrew the conditions of changing Gunners’ name and relocating the club to Gaborone, the Gunners’ negotiators have remained anxious with fears that the new owners may go on to do what they want with the club at a later stage. They want the club to remain in Lobatse and keep its name, hence they decided to try other possible investors that included the Choppies Group and motor magnate Satar Dada.

However, with Ismail eventually promising to assist the club with P1 million per season for years to come, it has emerged that it will not be assistance from the Choppies Group per se, but some form of annual donation from his personal finances. Such is the pledge he has reportedly made to the Gunners’ management in that meeting although the club’s chairman Dlamini would not want to be drawn into confirming the matter. Instead he preferred that comments be sought from his deputy who confirmed the talks took place but claimed to be in the dark about the figure of P1 million. “Yes we met him and he asked us to share our problems and needs with him. All I recall is that he said he will come back to us and we are waiting. 

But if it’s true that’s the figure he will give us, then we will win the league,” Langwane asserted. Gunners have over the years struggled with funds and they believe that if it was not for their financial woes, they would have kept their best players who have since left them for greener pastures. In a month, they spend around P140 000 and their expenses have to cover travelling, camping and player salaries among others. Speaking to BG Sports in an interview, Farouk confirmed meeting Gunners’ management at the Choppies Group head office last week, where Landmark Chief Executive Officer Rajnesh Bhanajah was also in attendance. Landmark is a company owned by Gunners’ Marketing Director Dada. Farouk told BG Sport: “I have been a Gunners supporter for a long time but I never went public about it. All I want to do is assist them. I met the club’s officials last week but Kitso Dlamini will be in a good position to say what we discussed in our meeting.” 

On the sidelines however, the Ghodrati’s have reportedly been pushing for a conclusion to their proposal with Gunners. Reports say one Jaroush Ghodrati met Cassim Dada on Tuesday in a bid to further convince Gunners that they are worth partnering with them. Gunners still maintain however, that they would rather trust an investor who has a deep-rooted connection with the town of Lobatse as Farouk is, rather than hand the team over to an outsider who might in time take the club away from their territory. Farouk and his family members are known to have associated with Gunners for years when they ran their businesses in Lobatse, from where the Choppies supermarket business would later be born.