MESSI, MAN CITY,

BALE, ZUNGU…

Barcelona’s performance in the Champions League is worsening with each attempt and this will push Messi more and more away from the team as he made it quite clear that he wants that gold medal. Their biggest blunder was letting Neymar and Suarez leave. Disastrous consequences have followed. I also don’t see them winning LaLiga with Atletico mounting a serious challenge this season. Messi should have left the team this season but was prevented by the contractual clause and he will surely be coached by Pep next season. My only problem with the pending move is the reluctance of Man City management to improve the contract of the evergreen De Bruyne, who is the heart and soul of the team, this as an attempt to make Messi the highest-paid player when he arrives. De Bruyne will feel hard done by if his contract doesn’t meet his requirements. I hope sanity prevails in the end.

Coach, we’re absolutely loving the stories. Keep them rolling in! I’ll tell you why I left Tembisa Classic, and that’s another unbelievable South African story. They were also in big trouble and Khabo Zondo had left. We were struggling, I didn’t have many players, but, you know, I started winning. They called me the messiah. If you went to the city’s newspapers, they were saying, “Walter the messiah, he’s making miracles with Tembisa Classic.” Then we had to play a life-and-death game against AmaZulu, with about six games to go, here in Tembisa. I had a problem with many injuries and I had no goalkeeper. My big goalkeeper had broken his arm. The second goalkeeper… his name was Bafana, I don’t know his surname, but he came from Free State Stars… he had a hamstring injury. So, I asked, “Who am I going to play? I can’t put him in goal with a hamstring injury.” They said, “No, don’t worry, we’ll find a keeper.” I found a keeper from SuperSport (United), Michael Utting. He was from New Zealand. He was willing to come, and I phoned the officials and said, “Please sign him.” It was a Friday, and the game was taking place the next day. At 20h00, Utting phones me and says, “Coach, they don’t want to pay the money I want. I can’t come there. Six, seven games to go… you’re fighting relegation, they have to look after me if I leave SuperSport.” So, the next day, I come to prepare for the game and I ask the officials, “What keeper have you got?”

Sure…

It appears that as we were training in the morning, the officials went to the township and saw a goalkeeper playing in an amateur league. They went to him and took him to the League and just registered him. Nobody had seen him (play), nobody knew who he was. He was just from an amateur team. So, I said, “No, I can’t put him in goal.” I said to Bafana, “Please, can you make it? Because we’re playing AmaZulu. Even if you’re playing with one leg.” We needed a draw and AmaZulu needed to win. I played him in goal. He’s struggling, he’s struggling, and, in the 75th minute, he can’t take it anymore. He goes down to the ground. I had to put this amateur goalkeeper in, with 20 minutes to go. The first shot at goal, between the legs, in the back of the net. The second goal you would have saved. Even Julius Malema would have saved it. We lost 2-0 to AmaZulu because they failed to get a proper goalkeeper. They knew the other one was injured. Guess what? After the game, the directors called me and said it’s my fault that we lost the game… ha, ha, not the goalkeeper, not the team. So, I said, “It’s my fault, after you don’t sign the goalkeeper from SuperSport? You put an amateur in goal who never played before, and now you’re blaming me? Listen, goodbye Classic, do what you want.” Guess what? Six games later, they were relegated, like Real Rovers. I said alright, if you say Walter’s to blame, good for you, I leave. It’s a madness story. Nobody would believe you. Can anyone believe that?

Really unbelievable indeed. Very interesting the way the so-called smaller clubs were run i nt hose days, not to mention the underhand tactics employed at management level. I coached Rabali Blackpool, and the owner, (Peter) Rabali, was a very nice man. I respected him because he was one of the nicest men among the owners of the clubs I coached in Venda.

He had no id eaa bout soccer, he was a businessman and he didn’t interfere. But then you’ve got the other people… you know, so-called directors. They influenced him. I went there, they had not won a game, they had about five points with 14 games to go. I then went 13 games unbeaten. I drew with (Orlando) Pirates in Venda with 10 players. I had a player from Kaizer Chiefs, Mike Maringa – they gave him a red card after five minutes. Ten players, Pirates couldn’t beat me, with Marks Maponyane, Marc Batchelor and all the stars. I filled the stadium in every game, and that was the case with every team I coached in Venda by the way. We had to go and play Hellenic in Cape Town. On the Friday before the Sunday of the game, one of the club’s directors brought me three players from the army. I had never seen them before. He said, “You must play them, coach. They are good players. They are in the army now.” I said, “Beg your pardon? I must play them?” So, we flew to Cape Town. When I made the team, I said, “No ways I’m going to put these players in the team. Nobody plays in the team unseen, without having trained with the team, just because the director wants them to play. This is a relegation battle.” It was a night game played in windy, cold, rainy conditions, and we drew 2-2.

What happened afterwards?

After the game, we go into our hotel rooms. I fall asleep and, at about 01h00, I hear a knock at my door. “Coach, coach! Rabali wants to see you in the room.” I said, “What? One o’clock in the morning. Are you crazy? For what?” The person said, “No, it’s important. There are other people also there.” So, I go up there in my pyjamas. In the hotel room, there’s no Rabali, but instead, three big monsters. The one was a traffic policeman for Venda, ha, ha. The other one I remember was a gateman, he controlled the gate during games. The one guy started to talk. He said to me, “Listen, we brought you three players. If these players had played, we would have won the game.” I said, “You’re not happy with 2-2 in Cape Town against Hellenic? You want me to play new players, unseen?” He said, “Yes, you’ve got to listen to us.” I asked, “Who are you?” He said, “I’m a policeman, but the muti man told us these players must play if we want to win the game.” I said, “Go to hell with your witchdoctors. Don’t tell me who to play and not to play. And don’t talk to me about football. You know nothing about football. Go back to Venda. You’re a policeman. Control the traffic in Thohoyandou, but don’t tell me how to play football.” In the morning, Rabali comes to me and says, “Coach, why didn’t you play these players? These people told me…” I said, “Mr Rabali, you listen to the wrong people. Listen to me, the coach. I’m so many games unbeaten. I’ll take you out of the relegation zone. Now you listen to these people.” He said, “Yes, yes, they know soccer.” I said, “Who do you want to listen to – them or me?” He said, “Them.” I said, “Mr Rabali, it’s the last time you see me.” I left on Monday, and they never won a game again.