REAL KINGS coach, Simo Dladla, has pin-pointed lack of commitment from his players as the main cause for their poor performance last season.
He added that this was compounded by the fact that some of the players were leaving the club after signing pre-contracts with other clubs.
“In the last eight games I discovered that there were players who have signed pre-contracts with other clubs while they had existing contracts with us,” said Dladla.
“They were playing just to sell themselves.
“I found them that they were motivated to lose games so that they can go on the free transfer. I then took certain measures to have one-on-one meetings. I had to assure them that I’ll let them go if they don’t want to be with me, regardless of the situation.
“I told them they don’t deserve to do what they are doing, because I know they are good players, playing very well but they don’t influence the results the way I want them to be. So I held them accountable. They told me the rumours are true, big clubs are talking to them; some of them denied the above. But that information for me was enough.”
He requested them to remain professional and committed, even after signing pre-contracts elsewhere.
Kings, who were just a whisker away from earning the PSL promotion play-offs last season after finishing fourth, came so close to being relegated to the ABC Motsepe League this term, just three seasons in the second tier of South African football.
Not only that, there was also an issue of players not getting paid on time. There were also outstanding bills payment at the club house where players are resident.
Despite these issues, they found their stationery point of their dismal season by winning five of their last seven games.
This was enough to see Magic Boys survive relegation.
They beat TS Sporting 1-0 in the last league match last Saturday., with Lindokuhle Mtshali scoring the goal to see the club finish 12th on the log table with 36 points from 30 games, two points behind relegated Ubuntu Cape Town.
The Cape club joined Witbank Spurs who were relegated to the Motsepe League before the last game of the season.
Sicelo Mkhize is said to have signed a pre-contract with Free State Stars.
Lindokuhle Mtshali and Neverdie Mkahubela are both wanted by Golden Arrows.
