Without fear or favour, we must say, judging by some of what we’ve spoken about in the past two editions, you were such a stubborn character, ha, ha, ha.
Ha, ha, ha, eish, you can’t be a softie in football, otherwise they will run you over. Fortunately, I had a coach like Trott Moloto at one stage at Bush Bucks. I consider him the best coach that I worked under. As much as the two of us had our own little fights at times, he used to understand what I was fighting for, plus he recognised my potential. As much as he may have had his negative side like any other coach, I would rate him 80% on the positive side. The nice thing is that he himself had played the game, so he knew all about the mentality of a footballer. He knew that even if others thought I was being ill-disciplined with my actions, but “yinja lento ebholeni (this guy is the top dog when it comes to playing football). Give him the ball and you’ll see. He has his own politics, but he has a strong case here and I need him.” Even if I hadn’t been at training the whole week and we were going to play against teams like Kaizer Chiefs, (Orlando) Pirates and (Mamelodi) Sundowns, he would instruct the club to go and fetch me. I would come back, go straight into the starting line-up and dish out the best performance without having trained.
Wow… Thereafter, he would say, “Yekani eli Mpondo liphinde liyo toyi-toya. Mnikeni imali yakhe (Let this guy from the Mpondo clan go and toyi-toyi again. Give him his money).” Ha, ha, ha. Why? Because he got the three points as well as the respect he always wanted against the big teams. So, I can say he was a parent. I usually say to people, when you have an education background, you are able to have man-management skills, because I later discovered that he was a teacher and so that’s why he used to understand these things. In addition to that, I was doing Teaching at the time, so we understood each other. You can’t have a coach who wants to prove a point that he’s in charge. Ndiyakwazi u (I know you’re) in charge! I respect you, but respect me on what I’m saying. Ungatyhali nges’fuba (Don’t force matters). He knew I had the potential to be a rotten apple within the group, so he would say, “Nogwaza, go and fight your battle. We need you, but go.” I would say, “Yes, let me go and fight my battle because if you don’t, I’m going to disrupt the training. There’s no way I will train while I’m not happy. Ewe kaloku (Yes indeed)! I will just kick this thing (the ball) over there, and I won’t do what you want me to do.”
