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Cape Town - Cape Town City chairperson John Comitis has fueled the rivalry with Ajax Cape Town ahead of the Cape derby on Saturday, February 11.
City are in a confident mood after spending much of their inaugural season at the summit of the Premiership table.
The Citizens brushed aside Highlands Park 3-0 at Cape Town Stadium as the PSL returned on Tuesday evening. Meanwhile, their opponents on Saturday suffered a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Wits ahead of the much anticipated derby.
At a press conference held in Cape Town, Comitis was in a buoyant mood when asked about the upcoming derby clash.
“Both teams have got to be from Cape Town to call it a ‘derby’,” said Comitis jokingly.
“No, it’s a great event for Cape Town and for football. We don’t underestimate any opposition, and can’t disrespect this game.
“We were focused on our match against Highlands Park and didn’t speak a word about the derby before that, and now we’ll focus on Ajax. And if the guys don’t roll their sleeves up, we’ll be in trouble as it’s a derby and will be a tough game.”
Comitis, who was the former chairperson of the Urban Warriors, continued to have an undertone of mockery towards Ajax as he briefed the media about City’s business format.
“Everybody needs funding to run a football club, but it’s got to be astute funding, not funding at a cost to the team or the cost of the fans enjoying a winning team,” he said, after the club unveiled four new additions to their squad.
City signed Tatenda Mkuruva, Edmilson Dove, Siyabonga Dubula and Letsie Koapeng.
“Every decision we make here is carefully crafted - we don’t do ‘willy-nilly’ things. We do make mistakes in signings and will continue to make mistakes, but that’s the way the game is.
“But we are quick to rectify them, and I don’t have to go to six board meetings and call five people from Europe to make one simple change. And that’s why we’re effective, as we can make decisions standing up.”
The match is set to take place at Cape Town Stadium.
Kick off is at 20:15.
