If I play, I will score

Delmain Faver: It didn’t take long after signing, for you to break your duck for Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila FC, scoring in the Nedbank Cup Last 32 against, wait for it, SuperSport United!

Thabo Mnyamane: I won’t lie, it was very good. It was my first start and it was very good to be on the pitch for longer than usual because I have mainly featured as a sub or played maybe 20 minutes or 30 minutes, so it was very good to play more than 45 minutes. So, I can say it was very good, man. It was exciting to obviously give the team their first win in the Nedbank Cup and moving on to the Last 16. Starting the match was important and my performance had nothing to do with the opposition on the day. It had nothing to do with SuperSport. There was no vengeance. It was nothing personal, to be honest. It so happened that it was against SuperSport that I got my first start and then I was focused on doing well and helping the team get through to the next round.

DF: You had quite a wild celebration against your former team. Usually, players raise their hands in surrender when they score against their former sides.

TM:

(Laughs) Maybe people will look at it like I disrespected the team, but I don’t disrespect SuperSport. I have the utmost respect for them. They are a great team. It’s just that I’m playing for a different team now and the team is going through a lot, as you know. The team hadn’t won in a while. They had only registered one win since we started, so this was our second win in all competitions. So, for me, it was more about my team, the joy and the feeling of scoring first and the feeling of scoring a goal because we haven’t been scoring as well. It was nothing to do with SuperSport or disrespect.

DF: Obviously positive results have been few and far between for you guys, but having joined in October, you only had your first start more than three months later. How does it affect you as a player knowing that you’re not contributing to helping the team improve results?

TM:

Personally, for me, it was just about doing my best at training and pushing myself and keeping at it. I also believe in those who are playing because it’s a team sport, so if I’m not playing, my teammate is playing and they are doing their best. It’s just unfortunate that the results have not been going our way, but we kept on putting in the effort and we kept on trying and improving and we managed to get a victory in 2021. So, it’s that thing of… you can’t look down. The only time you look down is when you put in the work and hope that something will happen because, at the end of the day, God rewards hard work, so we just have to work hard and trust God.

DF: We hear you. TM:

I spoke to the (then) coach (Joel Masutha) a few times and we had good discussions and he told me that I was doing well at training and I was giving my all and he was happy with me at training. He said I should keep on doing what I was doing and that

Thabo Mnyamane’s rise from varsity superstar to seasoned PSL professional has been nothing short of extraordinary. After graduating from the North West University in 2014, “Scara’’, as he is affectionately known, was snapped up by University of Pretoria. Despite flourishing in the colours of AmaTuks, the club’s relegation meant that the likes of Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns were left to vie for his services. It was archrivals SuperSport United, however, who ultimately managed to win the race for his signature, snapping the attacker up on a four-year deal. Following a successful but sometimes injury-ravaged stint with Matsatsantsa, which saw him win three trophies, the 28-year-old learnt that his contract would not be renewed at the end of the 2019/20 season. Now a Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila FC player, Mnyamane opens up to Soccer Laduma’s Delmain Faver about his time in Tshwane, netting his first goal for his new side and having his homeboy as a teammate. things would change, but the situation was very complex and it was not black and white and there were a lot of factors that contributed to the lack of game-time, which was beyond my control.

DF: What were those factors? TM: I’d rather not say for now…

DF: Hmmm, quite interesting. There’s been so much talk around the club and their publicised maladministration and financial issues. Does it, at any point, affect the performances on the field?

TM: (Sighs) Look, we’re all not immune to feeling some type of way. Obviously, I’m human and sometimes you question things. It might sound cliché, but I live by faith and I live by God. Yes, things are not a bed of roses, but God has a reason for everything and there’s a time for everything. I believe that this is a good test of character and a builder of strength, and it depends on how you look at it. You can look at the situation and sulk and be negative or you can look at the situation and be positive and be happy that you are faced with challenges that are going to help you grow as a person and they are going to elevate you to the next stage. So, for me, it’s more of the positive mindset I apply to the situation because I know that, at the end, you reap what you sow and if you sow positivity, you’ll reap positivity.

DF: Does the recent change of ownership, with Dr Abram Sello taking over from Lawrence Mulaudzi, motivate the team to turn things around on the field? TM: I think the mandate and the principle of playing football has always been the same for the players: to win games and do well. So, yes, the new management and the new owner came in, but I think the blueprint and the basic foundation of every player is to win every game that they play and it so happens that we have a new owner now and it so happens that when you meet someone new, you want to impress them. It’s in human nature to do that and it reflects because the morale in the team has gone up and, you know, there’s a lot of buzz on the training field, obviously because of the new owner and all that. You can attach the morale of the team and the positivity of the group to that and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season.

DF: What has it been like playing with your homeboy Thabo Rakhale, with whom you go a long way back?

TM: To be honest, it’s very good because I always wanted to play with him, you understand? We played together when we were still amateurs, playing for our local teams. Obviously, it’s good to play together on the big stage, in the PSL, and I’m looking forward to playing with him properly and sharing good moments and not like five minutes and 10 minutes with him. So, I’m still looking forward to playing a nice full match or maybe 60 or 70 minutes with him.

DF: Now that you’ve scored your first goal, and followed that up with a sublime freekick against Maritzburg United, can we start expecting to see the free-scoring Thabo Mnyamane that burst onto the scene a few seasons ago?

TM: Look, for me, it’s like basic math, basic principles. If I play, I will score. The more I play, the more I will score – I know myself and I back myself in that. So, what you can expect is that if Thabo is playing, Thabo will score.

DF: Well, your goals will be muchneeded if you guys are to start moving up the log standings. TM: Yeah, man. I think, if I’m not mistaken, we have 42 points up for grabs and we can only aim for the moon and believe that we’ll fall amongst the stars and actually reach them. So, for us, the mandate is simple: to stay in the DStv Premiership and push ourselves until the very end in May. So, we’ll push ourselves and make sure that we turn things around, move up the log and show people that we can compete.

“I’m human and sometimes you question things.”

DF: Will TTM survive relegation this season?

TM: Yes!

DF: Moving on, how would you sum up your four-year stay with SuperSport?

TM: It was fantastic, absolutely fantastic. I enjoyed every single moment, every single day. It helped me grow, it developed me to become a spartan and I’ll always be a spartan forever. Ja, man, I won’t lie, it was a fantastic stay.

DF: It must, then, have been a bit disappointing that in your last season with the team, you did not contribute as much as you’d have wanted to…

TM:

In my last season with SuperSport, I was in the matchday squad multiple times. If you check the stats, I was there more than 20 times, but basically, I was on the bench (Mnyamane started from the bench 13 times in all competitions last season, coming on as a sub twice. He started one game). Yeah, it was not a pleasant situation to be in because obviously you want to play, but I understood that the guys that were playing were contributing to the team and I was there on the bench because the coach believed that I could give him something off the bench. So, it was one of those things where when you contract ends, you have served your purpose very well, you contributed to winning trophies with the team and you leave on a good note.

DF: Before your contract came to an end, club CEO Stan Matthews said you were amongst the players that would not be kept going into the current season…

TM: I read about it in the news and obviously that’s how I prepared myself. But ja, let’s leave that one.

DF: Fair enough. At one stage, there was so much talk about you being the subject of the so-called Big Three’s interest. Is there a part of you that regrets not exploring those avenues?

TM: Not really, to be honest, because I think if you look at the past four years, I’ve been in six finals, I’ve won three trophies, I’ve experienced CAF competitions and I’ve played for Bafana Bafana. So, I don’t think there’s anything to regret. That was a good chapter of my life. ❐