Jomo Cosmos have spent two seasons in the third-tier league of South Africa after being relegated from the Premier Soccer League (PSL) eight years ago.
However, owner and coach Jomo Sono stated that he is not in a hurry to get back into the PSL by buying the status of a team.
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Talking to Soccer Laduma on the sidelines of the launch of his new sponsorship with Lucas Batteries in Sandton, the South African football legend said that it's not worth buying a team for close to R10 million only to be relegated the next season.
Sono added that he would rather go through the process of developing his team and learn from that experience than to take a shortcut to success.
"I bought Highlands Park for R50,000 and at that time it was expensive. But now you have to spend between R8m to R10m to buy a team. Then after one season in the Premier League, you are relegated again. Why do that?" Sono asked the Siya crew.
"Rather build something honestly and compete honestly and get promoted to the higher leagues. You have to go through the process to learn from your mistakes and correct them, so that when you come back, you can't repeat the same mistakes but instead improve your team.
"I don't think it's a wise thing to buy a team or status for so much money only to be relegated the next season. That's not my way of doing things. I will go through the process and achieve the goal we have set for ourselves," Sono observed.
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In addition, the former Bafana Bafana coach stated that he set himself and the team a three-year target in the ABC Motsepe League to bounce back to the Motsepe Foundation League, and this is his third year into that plan.
"We knew the ABC Motsepe League is tough and that's why we set ourselves a three-year plan. We knew in those three seasons we will have learnt and be ready to bounce back to the First Division. Now we have learnt and we know what we have to do to win our stream and fight for promotion in the national playoffs. It could be easy to win your stream but fail to qualify for the Motsepe Foundation League after just losing (some) games. Those are the things we had to master in the first two seasons and the third season, which is this one. Go all the way for promotion and I know we are ready now! That was our plan and it will work. You see just like the PSL is weak without Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns. It's even weaker without Jomo Cosmos. So we have to make sure we bounce back to where we belong, the PSL," Sono concluded.
Sono's approach to rebuilding Cosmos is rooted in patience and long-term planning. By focusing on organic growth and learning from past mistakes, Sono aims to ensure that when Cosmos return to the higher leagues, they do so with a solid foundation and the ability to compete at the highest level.
