BOMBSHELLS
HEADING FOR PIRATES: Abbubaker Mobara has left Ajax Cape Town to join his former coach, Muhsin Ertugral, at the Buccaneers AJAX Cape Town are unambitious, their owner does not know football, and they will not win trophies consistently unless they spend more on keeping their top players, says Orlando Pirates’ new signing Abbubaker Mobara.
Pirates announced the signing of Mobara, the intelligent centreback, who is comfortable at rightback or in defensive midfield, with winger Riyaad Norodien, on Tuesday.
Mobara fired a warning at his former club that unless they show ambition to keep some of the talent their famous academy produces, Ajax can lose more players to the big Johannesburg clubs soon.
There have been murmurings of the deal not being quite concluded. But Mobara said he’s more than ready to go, despite his irritation at having to find out about the move on Facebook.
“Ajax never consulted me about anything,” Mobara said in a hardhitting interview in Windhoek, where he was part of the Bafana Bafana team that reached yesterday’s Cosafa Cup final.
“But I was looking for new competition. I was in a comfort zone at Ajax.
“Ajax don’t buy players. They use the youth through the development. I just felt if I could have quality players around me pushing me, it could only improve my game.”
Mobara said the example set by champions Mamelodi Sundowns’ Keagan Dolly and PSL Player of the Season Khama Billiat, and Nazeer Allie, who enjoyed one of his best seasons at runners-up Bidvest Wits, has made Ajax’s headline players see Johannesburg as their next step.
“It should be. Keagan moved to Sundowns and won a league title and was nominated for PSL Player of the Season. Khama Billiat, that guy is in a world of his own — the best striker in the PSL. Their success motivates me to take the next step.
“Ajax have always produced good players then sold them. For me it feels like a kind of excuse.
“You start to think: will the youth fight for silverware? We won the MTN8 last season, but after that we could not win for 14 games in a row.”
Mobara said Ajax do not want to pay up to keep their senior players.
“It’s frustrating when I can see this guy deserves better money because of what he’s contributing. Then again you have a boss at Ajax [Ari Efstathiou] who’s got a mind of his own,” he said.
The defender alleged Ajax chairman Efstathiou, who took control of the club in 2013 after a long power struggle with brother-inlaw John Comitis, does not have footballing acumen.
“When they said he’s the new boss we all knew he doesn’t know about football,” the player said. “Running a business is probably his strong point but for a big club like Ajax you need someone who knows football too.
“Because you have players who are trying to keep the club successful, and you’re paying the guy a labourer’s wage.”
Mobara does credit the Ajax academy for turning him into the almost finished defender product he is at 22.
“Coach Puzzy Jansen , my under11 coach, was the one who made me Mobara’s claims are totally unjustified, says Ajax Cape Town chairman AJAX has a unique business model that has proven extremely successful over the years. The facts speak for themselves. Two cup finals, including the MTN title in the trophy cabinet, in the past two seasons, I would believe, is reasonable success. And these results were achieved with a huge percentage of academy players in the PSL squad. Players like Mobara and many other academy graduates have benefited immensely from this extremely successful strategy. So I would be surprised if, in fact, Mobara made any of these comments.
Similarly, people could have made similar comments about Leicester’s business model which clearly proved many “so-called” experts wrong. — a centreback. I had no idea I would be a defender at that time — I just knew how to score goals.
“I was a No 9 like Tashreeq Morris. Tashreeq and I beat Ajax 2-0 for a district team in a regional final. That’s how they saw us, and I was signed as a striker. I played one game as a striker at Ajax, then the next as a centreback, and never looked back for the rest of my career.
“Coach Ivan Kamfer taught me patience. That played a big role in my career. That’s why my first option isn’t kicking the ball away. I’ll look for a way to play it.
“I’m not tall. Coaches play me at centreback because of my anticipation. I’m not physically strong but I’m street-smart. I played a lot of street football. I know what it’s like to be tough.
“In street soccer there’s no ref, and you will go in the house with a knock or two.”
Being converted from a young striker, where he would have acquired a skills base, to a centreback, perhaps accounts for Mobara’s famous versatility and indicates a well-developed football intelligence.
Growing up in Woodlands, Mitchells Plain, Mobara had to avoid not just the knocks of street football, but also the temptation of gangsterism.
“My parents played a big role. Out of 100 of my school friends, probably two are not gangsters. They’re working, trying to figure out how to live a straight life. I try to help them keep on the straight path like my parents did for me.
“On the Flats the gang leaders influence the kids by buying them clothes, then they feel they own the child. It’s unfair. Some of those kids don’t have parents to tell them that it’s wrong.
“Me telling them is like me threatening them by keeping them away from the life they want. So I don’t involve myself with those people anymore.
“What is important is for me to be a different sort of role model to a gangster. You can only do so much because this guy might feel threatened and have a grudge against you.
“It’s dangerous. I’ve seen people try to help, then become wanted.
“Even me — I used to walk all over, but I’m scared as hell now, especially late at night. Innocent people get killed for nothing. I heard this week that a guy I played football with was robbed in Hanover Park and shot in the head three times and killed. For no reason.”
Mobara’s mother has a small business making samosas at home — “the best samosas you’ve tasted”. “My dad stopped working because a lot of people robbed him in his years of work. He just gave up.”
The utility player is looking forward to reuniting with new Pirates coach Muhsin Ertugral.
“He gave me my breakthrough. He’s the one who made me a midfielder at Ajax in 2013,” he said.
“People can have a lot of things to say about him but he’s one of the best coaches I have worked with. When he tells you something that’s going to happen on the field that day, it’s going to happen.”
South Africa sent an Under-23 team to the Cosafa Cup in preparation for the Rio Olympics in August. They have found their hungry southern African neighbours tricky opponents, showing character to come back from a goal down in the penalties quarterfinal win against Lesotho and 5-1 semifinal thrashing of 10man Swaziland.
“My concern is if we go down in the Olympics are we going to be strong enough to come back against those teams? We’ve got to be more focused in the first half of the matches we have left before Brazil.”
When Efstathiou was approached to respond to Mobara's claims, he requested to be sent questions on Friday. Questions were sent and yesterday he SMSed: “I am still travelling and have not checked my e-mails yet.” He had not responded at the time of going to press.