On The News Of Alex Shakoane's Passing
We are all saddened and shocked by the news of the passing of Alex Shakoane. He was someone I was personally close to from the first day I arrived in South Africa and he will be sorely missed. This is someone who made a huge contribution not just to Mamelodi Sundowns but to South African football in general. He was like a big brother to me. I met Alex in early 1995 when I came to South Africa with the Cameroon national team to play the Four Nations Cup tournament. At the time, I was on the books of Belgium club, Kortrijk. Alex was sent to our team hotel by (then owners) Natasha and Angelo Tsichlas to come and recruit me to play for Mamelodi Sundowns. Most football officials who recruit players are very formal in how they conduct negotiations and they normally start the conversation by introducing themselves and telling you which club they represent before proceeding to tell you why they want you to join their respective club. But that was not Alex's way of doing things. Alex was cut from a different a cloth and he had his own ways of doing business. After our match against Bafana Bafana, Alex came straight to me and just said, "Hey boy, I want you to come and play for Mamelodi Sundowns, I want you to be a Mamelodi Sundowns player." Just like that. I looked at him and I just laughed because I was amazed by his honesty and passion for Mamelodi Sundowns. I replied to him and said, "It's okay, I don't have any problem. Just send a formal offer and we will take it from there." From that day, we connected very well and became personal friends in football and outside football. He is someone who recruited me and welcomed me when I joined Mamelodi Sundowns (in February 1995). Right through the years, we had a good relationship and I treated him like a big brother and he made sure that I was okay and felt welcome when I arrived. He contributed a lot with the relationship between the media and the players. And if you wanted to know the history of Mamelodi Sundowns, you had to go to Alex – he was the go-to person. He was with the club from day one as a supporter, he knew everything about this club since the day it was established and there is no person alive today who knows Mamelodi Sundowns better than Alex Shakoane. There is not a single person. During his time at the club, he went through different generations of players and saw them win different titles. He saw players coming and leaving, generation to generation, and even during the change of managements, Alex was still there at Mamelodi Sundowns, and that tells you everything about his contribution to the team. Alex was a football personality.
On Memories He Has Of The Former Downs PRO
After I joined the team, we experienced our first success together by winning the league in 1997 and I remember before the Rothmans Cup final matches against Kaizer Chiefs, he was always there to create the excitement and hype up the games. He created a good environment for all us players to go out and perform well on the field. That generation won many trophies and Alex was there side-by-side with players. He was always with players. He created a good atmosphere inside the dressing room. He was always positive even when results when not going our way. He would make us feel at home and he was never someone who liked fights. He ensured that players were motivated and the spirits were up. After I retired from playing, I became a caretaker coach at Sundowns and his attitude never changed towards me. He gave his support and was always there acting as a big brother. I used to call him and sometimes he would call and we used to talk about a lot of things. Alex was a true football personality. Losing someone like him is a sad loss. The last time I saw him was a month ago, he was not okay, but despite that, he was always happy and just talking. We sat and talked a lot about what Sundowns was as a team when I joined them compared to what it is today. Whenever we talked Sundowns' current success, Alex always said to me, "Roger, people must not forget that you guys are the ones who started all this nonsense. Your generation started this nonsense." He always referred to Sundowns' success' as 'this nonsense' because that's how he used to talk. He respected the success achieved by the current generation but always stressed that it's the previous generation that started everything and got the ball rolling.
On His 'Goldfingers' Moniker
Alex was someone very funny and close to everyone in the team. He was always supportive to all the players, whether they were new or had been with the club for a very long time. His ambition was to see Mamelodi Sundowns succeed, regardless whether Raphael Chukwu, Daniel Mudau or myself did well. He put the interests of the team above everything. He made all of us players understand that the team needed 100% from us and we had to give everything to the team. I used to joke with him and say, "Hey Bra Alex, with all this gold on your fingers, if I can cut them out, I can make a lot of money and become the richest man in the world." We used to joke and laugh about that. He was a funny person, who made jokes but always did his work. I will miss him and what I will miss the most about him is having someone to talk to, someone who was always prepared to listen to me when something was bothering me. Alex was always there to listen and I will miss that. He was a big brother and his passing is a great loss to current and former players, supporters and the club.
