Kaitano Tembo: I watched SuperSport United empire crumble

The former defender, who spent eight years at Matsatsantsa after retiring as a player and rose through the coaching ranks to lead the team, reflected on a club that once dominated the league with three titles before changing course.

Tembo noted that a shift in strategy – including selling top players to remain financially viable – ultimately altered the club’s trajectory, culminating in the sale of its PSL status and rebranding to Siwelele FC.

While he may not have predicted the final outcome, Tembo admits he is not surprised by how events unfolded.

"When Imtiaz Patel came in as the CEO of the club, the club was struggling at the time. I think we were second from the bottom, fighting relegation. And the vision was to try and achieve, you know, and try and conquer, because at that time it was one of the clubs that had that," said Tembo

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"We were also very financially sound, so they could manage to get some of the top players. So when that happens, you have to get results, you have to win trophies. So that's how the club wanted to try and also promote DStv, Multichoice as well as the sponsors."

"So the team had to be very successful. Hence, they had to pump in a lot of money in that regard. But as the years passed, the ambition started changing because it's a business. If you want to be sucessful, you have to make sure you spend money. So when you win trophies, I think at that moment we went about 10 seasons, we won, we got about 10 or 15 trophies — cup finals, I mean — and we won the treble. And there's a lot of other trophies and domestic cups that the club had won."

 Tembo believes the new model led to the collapse. 

The 55-year-old, who now works as the Sekhukhune United reserve league coach, witnessed retrenchments as well as the switch to rely on emerging talent at SuperSport as a big indicator that the model was unsustainable. 

Tembo says he felt confident leading SuperSport in unfamiliar territory although the goal posts were constantly being moved.