On the day Andre Arendse signed a contract with Fulham in England, he called his employers at Old Mutual to let them know that he would no longer be coming back.
Arendse spent three seasons with Fulham before making a move to Oxford United in England, a club he was with for just one campaign. Soccer Laduma spoke to the former Bafana Bafana goalkeeper about his time in England.
How the move happened
In 1997/98, that's when I went to Fulham. Obviously the Africa Cup of Nations had catapulted a lot of the South African players into European journeys and certainly it was no different for me. But where mine started was in 1997 and we had a friendly international against England at Old Trafford. That was where a lot of it started for me because Fulham had sent some scouts to watch that game. That's where they made contact with me. I remember being called up to a FIFA All Star team, myself and I think Mark Fish was with me. We had a friendly against an Asian All Star team in Hong Kong. I played in that game and then I got a call from my agent saying I should fly straight to London because Fulham had a contract on the table for me. I flew across and I signed a deal with Fulham. It was back in the day where a guy like me had a day job. I signed the contract and the first thing I said to the board members was 'can I use your phone?' I picked up the phone and I called my bosses at Old Mutual in Cape Town and I told them I am not coming back. I had really built a good relationship with my employers at Old Mutual and they understood where I wanted the game to take me. They were happy for me when I said I am going full-time into the game. That was where the journey started for me.
The rands and cents
When I signed the contract and I saw the money at the time, I said to my wife 'we are going to be there for three years and then we are going to come back home and retire'. I'll give you an idea of what I am talking about. When I left Old Mutual and Cape Town Spurs, I was probably earning a combined salary of about R2500 a month. When I signed for Fulham, I was earning 1000 pounds a month. At the time, I think there was a 20 000 or 30 000 pounds signing on fee, so it was a lot of money. I tell you what it took me to leave the country and come back in the country to earn more money. But the most impactful part was the learning experience. I got coached by Kevin Keegan and Ray Wilkins and that's something money can't buy.
My first day in Europe
I remember it like it was yesterday. I was walking around London because I was trying to get used to the city. I was looking for a building and I stopped someone in the road and I said 'please tell me where this building is'. The first thing the guy said to me was 'buy a bloody map, son'. That was my first day in London. I needed to acquaint myself with where I lived and how far it was to travel to the training ground and to the stadium. There was also the excitement of meeting my new teammates. As a foreigner, you need to earn people's respect and it was no different for me. That was one challenging thing I had to get through and it was good for me.
My debut
I had to wait a while for my debut. When the club was taken over by Mohammed Al-Fayed, he brought in Kevin Keegan and Ray Wilkins (as managers) and they brought in some of their own players. I remember them bringing in Mike Taylor, who was the number one (goalkeeper) at the time. He played ahead of me. So, I had to wait a bit. My debut for the club was in a friendly against Charlton Athletic at Craven Cottage and we won 2-1. I am really happy to say that I had a good game. I needed to have a good game because that's what your teammates look for.
The best player I played with
The one that I got so much experience from playing behind him was the captain Chris Coleman. He's gone on to be a top manager and he became the Welsh national team manager. It was his leadership abilities, the way he guided the team. It made our jobs so much easier. That was a really good thing because it brought out a lot of confidence in me.
Best player I played against
When I was at Fulham, we were not a Premier League side, so we were not coming up against the best players in the country. But one of the most unbelievable times I had was playing in a reserve team game. When you play in the reserve team matches, you played against teams in the London area. I remember we played a reserve team game against Arsenal. What a lot of teams did was that they used players who were coming back from injury in the reserve team games. We played against Dennis Bergkamp at the time. What a player!
Most memorable moment
We were travelling on the bus to Craven Cottage and we went into the changing room. I think we were going to play against Reading. So, while we were sitting in the changing room, I remember Mohammed Al-Fayed came in. He was the owner of the club and he was also the owner of Harrods (luxury department store). He walked into the dressing room and he told us that there is someone special he wants to introduce us to. As he got out of the way, right behind him stood Michael Jackson. It was really him. Every year, Harrods used to have this massive sale. Mohammed Al-Fayed used to hire the best artists around the world to come open up the sale for him. Michael Jackson was the one doing it at that particular time. It was amazing!
