Ricardo Katza doesn't want to see Bloemfontein Celtic buy SuperSport

Katza, who spent more than a decade at Matsatsantsa, expressed concern about the future of the club's respected youth academy.

On Friday, reports surfaced suggesting that SuperSport United may sell their Premiership status to Bloemfontein Celtic, a once-popular club seeking revival.

Celtic, affectionately known as Phunya Sele Sele, was sold to Royal AM before the 2021/22 season. However, Royal AM has since been expelled from the Premier Soccer League following a troubled two-year stint marred by a FIFA ban and tax issues with the South African Revenue Service.

The revival of Bloemfontein Celtic is reportedly being backed by Gayton McKenzie, the current minister of sports, arts and culture, who is allegedly playing a key role in bringing the club back to top-flight football.

"Look, for me, it sounds like a business transaction. It is the same deal that happened with [now-defunct Bidvest] Wits. You sell a club that has 99 years of history and the following year the club gets sold again," Katza told Sowetan.

"Will Celtic hold on to SuperSport's name and history? Because once it goes to Bloemfontein and it's Celtic, no one will think about the club any more. For me, the sad thing is how we got to where we are now.

"For a club to be in the bottom half of the league table - a club such as SuperSport, which has always been in the top eight - what has gone wrong? I think that's what we need to probably get behind."