The demise of the Citizens

Cape Town City are headed to the Motsepe Foundation Championship and there is a lot that the club will be losing out on. But what could have led to their surprise relegation from the Betway Premiership? Was it coming? Or did a string of bad decisions in just one season lead to the darkest day in their history? Soccer Laduma looks at the mountain the Citizens have to climb to make a return.

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Cape Town City suffered the fate that no club wants — getting relegated from the topflight of South African football. In a time where clubs are struggling to survive financially, the Citizens face the tough task of keeping the club as stable as it has been since its inception in 2016.

City were never a club that flirted with relegation. From the time John Comitis bought the status of Mpumalanga Black Aces in 2016 and relocated the team to Cape Town, the Citizens had always been in the Top Eight until their relegation in the previous season. But what went wrong?

A source close to the club, who contributed to bringing players to the club as an agent, raised concerns over the recruitment at City and the decisions made by management when it came to the technical team. They brought in veterans Thulani Serero and Kamohelo Mokotjo and made questionable decisions in their technical team.

"They've had some good foreign signings, like Nathan Fasika and Brice Ambina, but there have been some poor foreign signings. And bringing in the likes of Serero and Mokotjo may not have been the best decision. You look at their goalkeeping department. They had Darren Keet, but he did not have competition. There are contributing factors to this," a source said.

"I think the coaching change was one of the biggest concerns. They let go of coach Eric Tinkler and then they brought in Muhsin Ertugral as a Technical Director. He was an interim coach and did not go back to the role of Technical Director when they let him go as coach. I think there was a lot that happened, and John was on the radio talking about where they went wrong. A team of City's quality should never have been in that position."