29 June 2017 – Following their relegation from the National First Division at the end of the recently concluded season, Cape Town side, Santos know they will have to double their efforts in the highly competitive ABC Motsepe League to move back up to the top.

This is according to Tyren Arendse, who has seen the best and the worst of football in the country.

The 36-year old player, who in his prime played for Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns, said he will go down with Santos and try to help them go back to the top again.

“We will need to work extra hard. That is the only thing we can do for ourselves. What we know is that it will not be any easy. Everyone knows that it is a very tough and competitive league. But we are up for it. We will start preparing in a few weeks time but we should be able to do well,” Arendse said.

Santos were relegated to the Western Cape division of the ABC Motsepe League after they finished bottom of the log in the NFD with 22 points from 30 games.
They had only managed to win four matches, losing 16 times and drawing on 10 occasions.

Arendse said he was expecting the ABC Motsepe League to be an even tougher league than the NFD and said their record as a former PSL champions might even lead to other teams targeting them.

“That is one tough league. We are expecting it to be tougher than the NFD. I think it is still unbelievable and surreal that we are here. We do not want to flip further down the leagues. The only place we can go from now is up and that means everyone at the club will have to be ready to fight. There will not be any handouts there. And our history and success of the past not mean anything” Arendse said.