Sturrock Park new seat of Wits learning

Bidvest Wits and the university are finalising moves that will see the club relocating from the Milpark Stadium to Sturrock Park, with the latter being converted to a fully fledged stadium.

A source has revealed this has created tension between the university and sponsors Bidvest Corporate Services.

After Bidvest acquired a controlling stake in the club in 2005, Milpark Stadium was renamed Bidvest Stadium. Talks about Sturrock Park have apparently not gone down well with Bidvest.

Sturrock Park will be renovated and turned into a bigger stadium - one that can accommodate 15000 fans compared with Milpark's 5000.

The plan is to build a football centre that will accommodate all the club's activities such as development, offices, clubhouse, dormitories and other modern club facilities.

The Milpark ground will operate as a training venue and will be converted to an artificial Astro Turf pitch. All these projects are expected to be finalised by the end of 2013.

Wits coach Roger de Sa refused to be drawn into the Bidvest/Sturrock tension and said he preferred talking about football matters.

"These developments will help in thrusting the club forward and continuing to be the frontrunner in youth development. Last season alone, we produced 21 players for all the national junior teams and Bafana Bafana. This is a milestone and we are very proud of the club. The next step is to put out a team that will compete for honours in the PSL," said De Sa.

Wits have also been working closely with the Royal Dutch Football Federation as part of the programme to develop SA coaches by 2014. The club have sent their coaches - Ashley Makhanya, Charles Yohane and Eric Tinkler - to the Netherlands for coaching education.

The Students have been cashing in after selling several players to overseas and local clubs. Tefu Mashamaite was sold to Kaizer Chiefs and Darren Keet to Belgian club KV Kortrijk. Their top striker, Calvin Kadi, is back in the country after his Portuguese club, Portimonense, were relegated. They want to sell him to an overseas club in the off-season.

"Sifiso Myeni could also be sold because a lot of PSL clubs have shown a huge interest. But we would rather sell him overseas. If we do not get any joy there, we would sell him to a PSL club rather than let him walk as a free agent when his contract expires," De Sa added.

"It will also be nice to get bigger crowds at our matches. Bidvest Stadium only takes 5000 spectators. In Europe, clubs can increase ticket prices but you cannot do it here. So, a 15000-seater venue will help increase our gate takings.

"We made lots of money when we played in Mbombela but the travelling was sometimes strenuous on players. So these developments will help the club a great deal. But everything is still under discussion. I do not see anything happening in the short term," De Sa said.