No go for yo-yos as Mosta seek to break duck

Throughout their 75 years of football history, Mosta have always produced teams who were too good for the First Division but too poor for the Premier League and so the Blues bounced up and down on a regular basis.

This year they have their best chance in years to set up a long-term home in the top division even though life is going to be tough and history tells us that usually the teams coming up are the ones who would go straight back down.

But this time, due to the new format, one of the promoted sides are guaranteed another year at the top and the Blues want to prolong their stay for more than one season.

Club president George Galea made these intentions clear during the presentation of the club’s new signings yesterday.

He said the committee worked diligently this summer to strengthen the squad. He added that during the past years, he also collaborated closely with coach Olivier Spiteri on a long-term plan aimed at securing promotion in the top division.

Now, after attaining that goal, the club has set their sights on new standards – to establish themselves among the elite football teams in Malta.

The club president hopes that Mosta would cling on to the current momentum and have a bright start to the season.

“We won the Gammari Muscat tournament, by beating two Premier League sides Tarxien and Birkirkara,” he said.

But this was pre-season and Galea is fully aware that the game in the top flight is a different kettle of fish.

Spiteri thinks that steering Mosta back into the Premier League was the hardest part.

“The first division is a difficult championship,” he said.

“It has a reputation of being unpredictable where any team can win any game. Besides that, there are plenty of top class coaches in the first division these days.”

Spiteri’s credo seems to be “that if you’re good enough to come up, you’re good enough to stay there.

Yet, he is well aware that Mosta will almost need to pull off a second miracle to avoid the drop.

“We are fully aware that we have a mountain to climb and we have to take it step by step. Rome wasn’t built in one day,” he said.

So far, Mosta have declared their intent, in quantitative terms at least, with the signing of seven players.

In came Ian Zammit and Kurt Magro (ex-Valletta), Luca Martinelli and Rudi Alinho (from Melita), Sheldon Grech (Pietà) and Glenn Zammit (Marsaxlokk). The Blues also signed Diego Pedriaggi and extended the contract of Nicky Bogdanovic for another year.

The Mosta coach is confident that the club has laid a foundation to boost their chances of reaching their goals during the transfer ­market.

“We had no money to burn but with some shrewd manoeuvres, we ensured the right blend of youth and experience,” Spiteri explained.

Mosta now have a good crop of home-grown talent with exciting futures at the club.

“The young ones at Mosta will be offset by some experienced players like Ian Zammit who will play for us this season,” Spiteri added.

The former Valletta striker was also singled out by the club’s new technical director Jeffrey Farrugia.

“The recruitment of Ian Zammit was a timely boost for Mosta as he brings skill and ­confidence to this club,” Farrugia said.