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Bullets in financial turmoil, call for an EGM

 

Domestic football giants Nyasa Big Bullets have called for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) this Sunday to resolve the financial crisis that is threatening to cripple the team’s operations.

The club’s general secretary (GS) Albert Chigoga, treasurer Chifundo Makande and board of trustees secretary Jim Kalua yesterday confirmed the development.

Chigoga said that although everything looks rosy on the ground, behind the scenes the club is battling a severe cash squeeze.

Confirmed the
EGM: Kalua

Said the GS: “We have reached a point whereby, we cannot keep it under wraps anymore or else the situation will turn into a mess.

“We have just started the second season and yet we are about to exhaust sponsorship for the third year and that means very soon, we will be eating into funding meant for the fourth season. And at the rate we are going, we will blow the K500 million sponsorship meant for five years by next year.

 “The purpose of the EGM, therefore, is to review the financial position of the club, identify solutions to the financial doldrums and to share possible commercialisation ideas in an effort to rescue the People’s Team from collapsing.”

He said while sponsors Nyasa Manufacturing Company (NMC) are fully meeting their contractual obligations, the team’s expenditure does not tally with the income.

“To be honest, NMC are doing a lot more in terms of financial injection into the club. They consistently release money every month to cater for the salaries of our players, technical staff and the administration.

“But our wage bill has increased in recent times and NMC does not shudder in ensuring that our club personnel gets paid at the end of the month. If we factor in game bonuses, it means NMC releases a lot more per month than what is even expected. Further, our team continues to flounder in huge debts in excess of K120 million,” said Chigoga, who attributed the club’s current situation to what he described as reckless spending by the former executive committee.

“They got excited and raised salaries and signing on fees for the players without caution. NMC’s sponsorship would be adequate if upon securing it, there was a proper plan on how to manage it.”

Shedding more light on the situation, Makande said the team’s weekly expenditure is between K1.2 million and K1.3 million.

“This is because with the club licensing system, we now have three teams, including the reserve and youth sides. Now, the challenge is that it is only the main team that generates income through gate-collections which is between K600 000 and K800 000 a week.

“The situation has been worsened by the closure of Kamuzu Stadium where we used to make more gate revenue unlike at other venues such as Kalulu Stadium [in Nchalo] and Mulanje Park.

“That means we have to offset the [K500 000] weekly deficit by either borrowing from members of the executive committee or the sponsors, a situation that is not sustainable as the debt keeps on escalating,” he explained.

Commenting on the wage bill, the Bullets treasurer said the contract agreement requires that the sponsor should release K6 million a month.

“But having beefed up the team with recent signings, it has increased to K7 million and when we factor in game bonuses, it shoots to between K11 million and K12 million.”

Kalua confirmed that the team is struggling financially; hence, the move to call for the EGM.

“We will also critically review the performance of both parties [the club and the sponsor] on whether they are meeting their obligations,” he said. n

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