Stanton Fredericks has opened up about how he missed out on a move to English Premier League side West Ham United close to 20 years ago, but remains grateful for the time he spent overseas in Switzerland, Russia and Greece. Soccer Laduma spoke to the former Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates player about his time abroad.
SWITZERLAND
How the move happened
I spent a week on trial with Grasshoppers Zurich, for a week, before the Olympics because they knew that if I go to the Olympics, I'd be snapped up by other teams. We had a loan agreement for a season before I went to the Olympics. I spent a week there and I came home after that and went straight into camp. Then Wits called me and told me that they had agreed on a loan deal with the option of buying. So, when I come back from the Olympics, they told me I will go to Switzerland.
In Switzerland, there are two halves. The first round of fixtures are played by 16 teams. After that, it gets split into an A league and a B league after the first round of fixtures. Then the top eight play for Europa League and Champions League qualification, and then the bottom eight play in a different league and the last two get relegated. I think I managed to play 11 games, but I came in the second half of that season. We won the league, but I missed out on one game from getting a championship medal. I played in the Europa League against Galatasary in the away game. I didn't want to leave. I was praying Wits would come to an agreement with the price, but it didn't work out. I had to come back to South Africa. That was one of the most challenging times in my career. They wanted to sign me. They put me in an apartment and took me for language lessons. They showed me where I was going to stay and I had a car. Everything was there. That's why I say it was one of the most challenging times. After that I came back to Wits for about a month or two and they saw that they needed to sell me. Two months later, I signed for Kaizer Chiefs.
Debut
I will never forget my debut for Grasshoppers Zurich. It was in a derby against FC Basel. But Basel of then was not the FC Basel that we see today playing in the Champions League. It was a big game, but it was not thee derby. The big derby was Grasshopper Zurich, my team, and FC Zurich, which is a team Shaun Bartlett played for. When I was there, he was there. And, by the way, George Koumantarakis was playing for FC Basel and he was the main topic of discussion. He kept on saying that we should stop the ball from getting to Koumantarakis. I was not registering that it was George Koumantarakis. I knew he was there, but I was thinking he was at Luzern, but I was not really aware that he was playing for Basel. Can you believe that, after about 15 to 20 minutes into the game, we got three red cards and then Basel got one red card, which was George. They were targeting him. He was elbowing and he was elbowing. I came off after 60 minutes, but it was not a derby to remember in terms of playing because it was so physical. The referee made bad decisions and it was just a mess. We lost 2-0.
RUSSIA
How the move happened
After establishing myself in my first year at Chiefs, I signed a three-year deal. The second season is where I felt more at home and I managed to get into the national team. I was playing regularly for Chiefs, so there was a lot of interest from Europe. Remember Bradley Carnell did well at Chiefs and went to Stuttgart. Siyabonga Nomvethe did well and went to Italy. Playing for Chiefs exposed me to the European market.
One of the biggest moves that was supposed to happen was when West Ham came to buy me. After the disappointing of Switzerland, I was on the brink of moving to the English Premiership, for a team where the likes of Rio Ferdinand and Joe Cole played. West Ham saw me after I played for Bafana Bafana against England. After the disappointment of Switzerland, yet again the deal falls from through. That deal was 90 percent done. The personal terms were agreed, the coach Glenn Roeder called me and they were engaging Chiefs. But Chiefs said they were not letting me go on week for a trial because they said West Ham should make an offer and we would take it from there. They did not want to send me to England to train because the season before that, Cyril Nzama went to West Ham and they never signed him. So, Chiefs was not happy with that. So, that deal fell through. In my third year at Chiefs, I made it clear that I wanted to go to Europe. I had an option to go to Belgium, Portugal and Russia. I was 25 going on 26, so when was I going to make money. The Russian team, FC Moscow, was offering me four times more than what I was going to get in Portugal and Belgium. I went to Moscow because I wanted to see how it was. Siyabonga Nomvethe also came to join me for a couple of days from Italy while I was training with the team. They wanted both of us, but I don't think he wanted it. I ended up signing for FC Moscow. The late Jacob Lekgetho helped me settle in nicely because we were the only two South African players in Moscow. The other like Matthew Booth, Macbeth Sibaya and Japhet Zwane were outside of Moscow. Jacob assisted me in getting my first apartment and he introduced me to someone who would be my translator because the translator at the club could not be with me all the time.
Greece
After returning to South Africa (to play for Orlando Pirates and SuperSport United), I had to get back to Europe. Fortunately, I had an agent that side. I called him and asked him to look for options. He sent me the options. He was so good that they (Pierikos FC) signed me before I even went there. They looked at my CV and videos and they signed me before I even kicked a ball there. My time in Greece, it was probably the best football I have ever played. I played as a number 10, whereas here in South Africa I was playing as a winger As a number 10, I started scoring more goals. I just matured in terms of play. It's a time of my life where I matured mentally as well. It was no longer about being a soccer player worried about clothing labels and what car you drive. This is where I graduated on and off the field and my family joined me. I was more settled and focused and life revolved around family and football. If it wasn't for the financial crisis in Greece, I would probably be living there. I would have settled down in Greece.
