It left me devastated
“He was the first person to call me.” “There were moves to Europe that were supposed to happen.”
As a footballer, you revel in being the talk of the town – sure, this was the case for Tendai Ndoro soon after he joined Ajax Cape Town, albeit it was for the wrong reasons. Guilt consumed the lanky Zimbabwean forward as he watched his beloved club slipping into muddy waters as he twiddled his thumbs in the stands, as a contractual oversight was cruelly coming back to haunt the Urban Warriors. When the club’s relegation to the National First Division was confirmed, Ndoro must have been the most heartbroken of all, but he has never fully communicated his feelings on the matter before. In this interview, he opens up to Soccer Laduma’s Beaver Nazo about the saga and laments a missed opportunity to join a team in Turkey.
Beaver Nazo: Fire7, it hasn’t taken you long to find your feet at Highlands Park.
Tendai Ndoro: First of all, I want to thank Highlands Park for giving me the opportunity to represent their club after the dark cloud that has been hanging over my head. Yes, I am getting there – I have scored three goals and have an assist. That is not bad for someone who was not playing, especially considering everything that I went through. A lot of people thought I would never play top-flight football again and they had written me off, but my love for the game kept me motivated. But 2018 is a year I won’t easily forget.
BN: Are you talking about the so- called Ndorogate saga?
TN: Yes, bro. Eish, that nearly destroyed my career. BN: How so? TN: It was all I was ever thinking about, man. I didn’t think of anything else during that time. I was not concentrating on anything else. I’m glad it’s over now. At the end of the day, it was God’s will for all this to happen to me. There are tough times in life where you end up feeling like your faith is being tested. It was a heavy burden on my shoulders, even though I never really spoke about how hurt I was at the time because what I was thinking was that the club suffered more than I did… they lost their Absa Premiership status! BN: Sure. TN: To be honest, it was not my fault, but I somehow felt like I had let the club down after they trusted me so much and gave me a good contract. I had hoped that it would be a happy ending, but sadly, it was not. But I still talk to Ari (Efstathiou, Ajax Cape Town owner) and he was the first person to call me and congratulate me when I signed for Highlands Park. That is why it is important not to leave a team on a sour note. I left Ajax with the management’s blessings, which is why they were able to call me and wish me well at my new club.
BN: Why didn’t you go down with Ajax to the NFD?
TN: My contract had a clause that said if the team got relegated then I would move. Even though there was a year left on my contract and the boss wanted me to stay, I decided to move. After all that had happened, I told myself that it was best if I moved. I mean, how was I going to feel in the NFD because already I felt responsible for the team’s demise? I was never going to be useful to the team.
BN: What was the reaction you got from the people on the streets?
TN: There are people who know football and who would tell me, “Listen, it is not your fault and don’t let it get to you.” Then there are those who would tell me, “Hey, Ajax are no more because of you. Hey, you are tarnishing our league.” But, as a professional, you take what builds you and leave the rest.
BN: Level with us… were you aware of this particular FIFA law when signing for the Urban Warriors?
TN: I wasn’t aware. I don’t think the club was aware either, otherwise I would have only started playing in January. BN: Do you think the judgment handed down on the case was fair?
TN: I won’t say it was a fair judgment or not – rules are rules and whoever was at fault has surely learnt their lesson. It is all water under the bridge now. It won’t change… Ajax are in the NFD.
BN: But they were given the goahead to play you by the PSL.
TN: When this all started, we were in Durban about to play AmaZulu and they told Ajax not to play me and explained this law. After playing seven games, they told me to only train and not to take part in any official games. BN: Any re- grets then?
TN: Not really. In fact, joining Ajax was a relief because things were not going well for me financially in Saudi Arabia. As an employee, having a contract with huge money and not getting that money was stressful. The matter was taken to FIFA and that’s when I found a way to leave the club. BN: Muhsin Ertugral, who’d signed you at Ajax, left the club after 10 games in the NFD.
TN: Ha, ha, ha, I don’t want to say I saw it coming. But Muhsin is a great coach and someone who will tell you when he is not happy with something and if you continue he will leave. I hope we can have as many Muhsins in football. He is the best I’ve ever worked with.
BN: Were there things he was not happy about there?
TN: No, I don’t know. I’m just telling you the type of a coach Muhsin is, that’s all.
BN: Let’s move on. Before you signed for Highlands Park, some reports linked you with a move to Kaizer Chiefs…
TN: (Cuts in) I had so many proposed moves, my brother – it was not only Chiefs. There were moves to Europe that were supposed to happen but didn’t. All of that failed due to off-field things that happened. You know, sometimes off field things can block your moves.
BN: What are you talking about?
TN: No, it’s just per- sonal stuff, bro, things that happened in my life that have nothing to do with football. You are a journalist and I know that you are aware of what I’m talking about, ha, ha, ha.
BN: There were widespread reports about assault charges that your wife had pressed against you. Could you be talking about that?
TN: Yeah. Eish, bro, that was all over the news and it left me devastated, but I’m glad to tell you that it is one of the experiences that made me stronger. I don’t even want to talk about it. I really want to put it behind me and talking about it won’t help me now.
BN: How did it block your moves through?
TN: You know… (sighs)… the case was postponed and I was given another date to appear in court. I was instructed not to leave the country before that date and, unfortunately, I couldn’t go to Turkey because of that. I really felt sad, but I told myself that whatever I was going to do in Turkey, I will do it here in South Africa – here I am now at the Lions of
the North. BN: Which Turkish teams were interested in your services? TN: I’m not at liberty to give names of the teams that were after my services, but it was three teams in Turkey. I was not even going to trial at one of them. I really wanted to go to Turkey, but it was not meant to be. I ended up telling them, “Maybe next time, but not at that moment.” The sad thing is that the transfer window closed while I was still busy with the case. BN: Is the court case behind you now? TN: Like I said, I really don’t want to talk about it, but yes, it is.
BN: When you arrived at Highlands Park, coach Owen da Gama said your signing was “an absolute plus for my team”. What is it like working with him?
TN: He is a very experienced coach who has even worked for the national team and his football philosophy is what makes him the good coach that he is. He makes everyone in the team want to play. He keeps telling us that we should always respect football and that nobody is bigger than the game. The relationship that he has with his players is a very good one.
BN: Before we let you go, let’s talk about your current team. Golden Arrows were full value for their three points against you guys last Saturday, winning 2-1. Where did it go wrong?
TN: It’s football, man – we can lose or win any game anytime hey. We didn’t do anything bad in that game, but because it was just not our day, we lost it. We just have to collect points in our next games to avoid the relegation battle. We still have 33 points to play for.
BN: How are you going to go about doing that?
TN: We will change one or two things and we know that it can happen if we work together. I personally joined the team after 10 games played, but I am happy that I have caught up with my teammates. We are not happy with where we are and, like I said, there’s about 33 points to play for, but if we can manage to get at least 20 points and add to the 22 that we have, we will be fine and we will get to the Top Eight. The second round is very difficult and we did well by picking up points in the first round. All we have to do is man up. It’s not going to be easy because it’s a huge task.
BN: Fire7, all the best with the Lions of the North. We can’t wait to see you back to your best.
TN: Sure, my bro, anytime.