Jomo Cosmos forward Tico-Tico believes Jomo Sono should shoulder the blame for what has befallen Ezenkosi.
Cosmos’ imminent drop to the ABC Motsepe League will be confirmed on Saturday if they don’t win against fellow strugglers TS Sporting or if Pretoria Callies wins away at Polokwane City.
Not since the club came into existence 40 years ago after Sono bought the original franchise of Highlands Park have Cosmos dropped so low that they play in the third-tier league.
“It is disappointing that it has come to this, but I realised a long time ago that Jomo wasn’t really ambitious anymore in having a strong team playing in the PSL all the time but just wanted to do business by selling his best players,” Tico-Tico tells KickOff.
“I already felt this when I was at Cosmos. You could see from back then that this wasn’t a club that would grow. I thought Jomo could have even built a brand in Cosmos and made Cosmos a bigger if he wanted but he was just thinking too low. He was just concerned about making money instead of building a strong brand. Many great players have gone through Cosmos.
“I don’t even see how they (Cosmos) will bounce back because Jomo is not young anymore. I don’t believe he has the same energy and wishes to bring the club back. It is going to be difficult.
“Cosmos is a brand with history so it is sad that it has come to this. I think he should have introduced changes to keep the club going by hiring experts in different areas of the game, but he always insisted that he wanted to do it himself. I don’t doubt his abilities, he just didn’t have the vision of making Cosmos a bigger club. He was just thinking small.
“He could have made the club bigger to levels closer to (Kaizer) Chiefs, (Orlando) Pirates and (Mamelodi) Sundowns. He would have made more money keeping the club in the PSL than selling players.
“We are crying, and people are teasing us here about Cosmos but there is nothing we could have done.
“Jomo is a legend in this game, and he could grow this club if he wanted to but he settled to make a small club that brings in players and sells them. If you keep selling your best players, it is not sustainable. Eventually, it will catch up with you.
“Chris Katongo was here in Maputo the other day and we spoke about Cosmos. I’m the only foreigner who stayed longer at Cosmos while the others stayed a year or two, so it pains me more because Cosmos became a family to me,” says the Cosmos all-time top scorer who banged 88 for the club in their PSL years.
