TNM Super League kings Be Forward Wanderers Executive Committee Tuesday set the record straight on how they spend sponsorship money and gate collections and indirectly, admitted that they are struggling financially due to a huge wage bill of their bloated squad.
In a statement released Tuesday to challenge some of their fans who, on the social media, accuse the Executive Committee of abusing funds, Wanderers— with their backs to the wall after a string of poor results— dismissed such reports as lies.
“Money from sponsors comes straight into Wanderers’ main bank account. Revenue from games is banked into the same account by either Sulom [Super League of Malawi] or Fam [Football Association of Malawi]. This account has five signatories who can each go and ask for a bank statement at any point in time. A cheque can only be cashed if it has three signatures,” reads the statement which Wanderers General Secretary Mike Butao and Treasurer Robert Mbedza, have signed.
The Nomads officials challenged that no single official can undertake a financial transaction without due approval of all signatories.
“This means no single person can abuse these funds. This is a system that has been approved by the Executive [Committee] and the sponsors. The sponsors are happy with the way we use the funds and that is why year-after-year, our sponsorship keeps increasing. Our sponsorship this year is K153 million. Our monthly wage bill is K11.6 million.
“This means [that] on salaries and rentals alone, we will spend K139 million this year, leaving a balance of K14 million for operations. When we delay to pay bonuses or signing-on fees, it is because of the huge wage bill we have and not because the money is misallocated or abused. Every supporter should note this,” the statement adds.
The statement comes amid reports that players such as Dan Kumwenda and Peter Cholopi have threatened to quit Wanderers over unpaid signing-on fees, absenteeism and clash of egos in the squad.
All this has seen Wanderers exiting the Airtel Top 8 cup in the semi-final after losing 1-2 to Nyasa Big Bullets on Saturday at Bingu National Stadium, making it three defeats in nine games in all competitions in this campaign.
Wanderers, who have scored thrice in six league games, are on position 12 with eight points, a distant 13 points behind leaders Bullets.
The statement says the Executive Committee has embarked on initiatives meant to generate additional income.
“We are trying hard to decrease the wage bill by trimming the squad and also to increase revenues by identifying other sources of revenues. We have embarked on an SMS promotion and soon we will be introducing bottled water called Aqua Noma to the public in conjunction with Bowler Beverages. There are several projects that our secretariat and marketing team are working on at the moment,” it adds.
Wanderers Supporters Committee Chairperson, Mervin Nkunika, said it was not true that the team’s players are not paid salaries, saying issues of unpaid dues are to do with game bonuses and signing-on fees.
“I know how the team handles funds and if some of our fans think there is abuse then it is very unfortunate. They make these allegations before verifying with the secretariat,” Nkunika said.
Leave a Reply