Bloemfontein Celtic is back, powered by Royal AM as Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila?

TTM was in full Celtic regalia on the bench, in leisure wear and tracksuits. It was only the playing kit that was still in TTM official colours, also with only one official on the bench spotting TTM colours. 

In the stands, there were few Celtic supporters, some of whom had traveled from Bloemfontein, but SABC Sport has also been made aware of the divisions between the supporters' groups, with most of them having recently aligned themselves with yet another Limpopo estranged top-flight club Marumo Gallants. 

Speaking to SABC Sport after the game, Thato Haraba who was coaching TTM for the first time in this game after they parted ways with veteran NFD coach Johnny Ferreira, also revealed without divulging much that Siwelele is back. 

“There’s been a lot of changes in the team, the guys came here very, very motivated, and getting to this point is a motivation on its own. 

“As you can see, I’m wearing a Bloemfontein Celtic badge here, the team has been training at the facilities that were previously used by Bloemfontein Celtic (Isiwelele Park), so those are the changes I’m talking about. 

“I’m also coming in now as the new head coach of the team, taking over from the previous coach, I’ve only had one week to work with the team but I’m happy with the progress,” said Haraba.

TTM, who had “bought the status of Royal AM Football Club in the Motsepe Foundation Championship in 2021, relocated to Bloemfontein from Limpopo at the beginning of the year.

Interestingly, they arrived in Bloemfontein driven by a Royal AM bus and SABC Sport has since learnt that they loaned nine players to TTM to help them fight relegation, during the Limpopo to Free State transitional period. 

SABC Sport also approached the “new” club chairman Max Tshabalala, who had previously sold Celtic’s top-flight status to Shawn Mkhize’s sister Nozipho Ngubo for a reported R50 million. But he declined to comment, promising that he will speak when the time is right. 

“We’ve all seen how people from Bloemfontein love football, it would be nice to have Celtic back in the professional setup again but it’s not for me to talk on that one. 

“At the moment the team is TTM, and it only came to Bloem so that we could save it from relegation,” concluded Haraba on this relocation matter. 

TTM travel to Durban tomorrow to meet Uthongathi, they are currently 15th on the log with 19 points, seven points outside the safety spot with only seven games to go.