Durban – SuperSport United defender Thulani "Tyson" Hlatshwayo has supported the continued calls for "financial fair play" in the Premier Soccer League (PSL).
The 2022/23 campaign will resume at the end of December as teams look to advance in the log standings as they get to the halfway mark of the season.
Therefore, the opening of the January transfer window will be key for teams to strengthen, but most seem to come out second-best to the spending power of the current DStv Premiership holders Mamelodi Sundowns.
Prior to the beginning of the season, the Brazilians managed to lure the talented Sipho Mbule and the quality and experience of Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams, two players of great value to Matsatsantsa.
Hlatshwayo, who arrived at the start of the season after a torrid spell at Orlando Pirates, has thrown his weight behind numerous calls by legends and supporters to the PSL to instil a capping system on the spending power of teams – especially Sundowns.
"If one looks back at four or five seasons ago, the PSL was interesting and everyone had an opportunity to win the leagues and it was very competitive," he told IOL Sport.
"It is obviously also down to how other teams fight (to win games), but for teams to be able to weaken other teams I think is very unfair.
“It's on the log, you can see the difference between first and second as opposed to second and the rest of the chasing pack, but regardless, I think we're in for an interesting season.”
SuperSport United, quite surprisingly, currently occupy third place on the DStv Premiership log, seven points off log-leading Sundowns, despite losing two and drawing the other two of their opening four games of the season.
The well-travelled and street-wise Hlatshwayo has waved away any concerns of potential anxiety creeping into a fair young group of SuperSport players in the second half of the season.
"I'm not surprised by where we are on the log; we started the season very well, but we just couldn't convert results in wins, and if we had we'd be singing a totally different tune right now,” he said.
“There aren't any worries about anxiety in the camp; we have a good blend of energetic youngsters and experienced campaigners, we just need to take each game as it comes and we'll see where we end up.”