'We're starting to feeling it now': Maduka on Royal AM's transfer bans

Royal AM head coach John Maduka has made an honest admission about the club’s transfer bans amid continuous struggles.

Maduka’s comments came after a disappointing 1-0 home loss to relegation-threatened Cape Town Spurs at the Harry Gwala Stadium on Tuesday night. Gadiel Kamagi’s second-half penalty secured all three points for the visitors.

The loss extends Royal AM’s winless streak to four league matches [three losses and one draw], leaving them languishing in 14th place on the DStv Premiership table with 29 points from 26 games.

Maduka openly admitted that the inability to strengthen the squad in the past two transfer windows due to the FIFA bans has severely impacted their performance throughout the season.

Royal AM received two separate transfer bans from FIFA. The first, imposed in June 2023, stemmed from an unpaid transfer fee to former striker Samir Nurkovic. The second, in January 2024, resulted from non-payment of compensation to former defender Ricardo Nascimento.

“You must remember that we didn’t sign any player,” said Maduka in the post-match press conference.

“And these are the players that we have, these are the only players we have. 

“If you look at our team and you look at the previous seasons and you check how many seasoned players that played each and every [previous seasons], you find that it’s only Matlaba and maybe a bit of Mahlasela.

“But it’s not many of them. So, we have most of the players that would play one game, two games. Most of them are not used to play 24, 25 games or so.

“So, most of the players that we have are that players that used to come in as a sub. They come in and they play two games, after that they disappear. They come back again.

“Now, to make them play week in week out, I think that’s why we’ve had inconsistency in so many games.

“And again, when you have whatever you have, you just try to work on it and then if on a day he’s on top form, he gives you what you want.”

The Malawian coach explained that most of their current players weren’t accustomed to playing a full season, typically serving as substitutes in previous seasons.

“But it’s really hard, especially the ban we can start it feeling now that you see especially the players we have that are not seasoned players,” he added.

“But that’s how it is, there’s nothing we can do. At training sometimes, we look okay and comes the game, it’s a different story, it becomes a problem. 

“So what can we do, we continue working and try to make sure that we save the team so that the team is safe.”

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