Rollers hold preliminary talks with potential financiers
Kabelo Boranabi | Monday July 3, 2023 16:00
The two parties officially ended their 10-year marriage on May 31 after failing to reach a common ground on a new deal. Pheto said the club has so far held preliminary talks with a few potentials. He said Rollers is open to any partnership model that would be beneficial to the club. Rollers have come into a partnership agreement with Prestige Parlours Group over an undisclosed duration and fee. The company has assisted Rollers with securing new club offices and transport. Rollers’ sponsors including Stanbic Botswana, Oppo, and Ezzy Build have remained with the club. Rollers will open a new club shop at the Fairgrounds Mall and hinted on an in-house sportswear label ‘Popa’.
Rollers has surprisingly been the busiest in the transfer market thus far. Popa on Friday confirmed the signing of attacking midfielder, Letlhogonolo Chenjela from Security Systems. He joins other winter signings including, Omphile Visagge, Obonwe Maome, Sphamandla Sangweni and Godfrey Tauyatswala. Pheto said the club is not done with the shopping spree adding that a new coach and preseason plans will be unveiled soon. The club leadership has remained mum on how much the club has benefited from its 10-year marriage with former investor, Shah. The latter was entitled to 80% stake of the club while the general membership owned the remaining 20%.
Addressing the media on Friday, Pheto said the club will sit down with Shah in the near future and decide on their 'cut'. Pheto said Shah had extended his services to the club by a month period until June 30 and the final phases of the handover should be completed in the near future. “We are still in transition and my believe is that we should complete and we should complete it perfectly. This is the first time we have seen such a transition and we should handle it with such delicacy. Shah has left for India for 10 days and he has communicated that he is within reach whenever we may need him for some issues (of the transition). “This shows the spirit of cooperation between us and him and we believe that we carry the same spirit when we finalise our talks. This is why I am saying at the moment we are still in transition and we hope to work hand in hand with Shah until the very end,” Pheto told the gathering on Friday at the club’s new offices at the Fairgrounds Mall. In the decade long partnership with Shah, Rollers became one of the profitable football clubs in the country. In the early years of the deal, in 2016 Rollers revealed profits of more than P6 million over a season at an Annual General Meeting held at Palapye.