Birds shelve sale, focus on crisis

Troubled Moroka Swallows have placed a cover over the club's "for sale" signs to instead focus on their relegation crisis.

- Great cash prizes in the score-prediction game

"The sale negotiations, which were at an advanced stage, are now the last thing on my mind," Swallows CEO Leon Prins said on Thursday.

Club owner Dieter Bock put the club on the market before the sudden illness which claimed his life, raising the prospect of a quick sale.

However, The Birds are now at the bottom of the PSL log after failing to win a single game, and the value of their product must have plummeted.

"We don't intend to cow-tow to the prophets of gloom and doom who are already proclaiming the demise of the club, and strong measures will be taken to ensure that Swallows are back where they belong in the PSL," said Prins.

The Birds will probably venture into the transfer market when the window period opens again early next year.

Of immediate comfort is the imminent return of former Bafana Bafana attacker Siyabonga Nomvethe, who has been out with a fractured arm.

"Nomvethe's return could give the team the impetus it needs for the forthcoming game against defending champions SuperSport United next week," said Prins, but he acknowledged that it would take a whole-hearted effort from all the players and officials "to turn the tide in this difficult encounter".

Prins and those in charge at Swallows, including German coach Ranier Zobel, have recently come under severe criticism from supporters and minority shareholders.