You’d swear I was a traitor

“That is why I feel disrespected.” “They didn’t book my flight back from Nigeria.”

Considering how synonymous the name James Okwuosa became with Chippa United, it’s strange to have to mention the Nigerian-born defender’s spell with the Port Elizabeth-based club in the past tense. And the severing of ties between the two parties was not as particularly amicable as one is often made to believe in such situations in football, with the 28-year-old telling Soccer Laduma’s Beaver Nazo in this interview about the club’s unfulfilled promises to him. To have made the sacrifices he says he made, all because of his loyalty to the club, only to be discarded like used bubblegum, has clearly left Okwuosa unsettled and irritated. Read on!

Beaver Nazo: James, you had your contract terminated by Chippa United in December 2018. What’s your current situation?

James Okwuosa: I’m still around, man – I am back with my family in Port Elizabeth after spending a week on trial at Highlands Park. Nothing came of it and I decided to come back, but my agent and I are working on something. I will reveal it soon. BN: Why did you leave the club? JO: I don’t know and I cannot tell you. They have a lot of issues, but I don’t know what they are. What I know is that it had nothing to do with my performances because I was always one of the standout performers for the club. The way they handled it was disrespectful to me. BN: What do you mean? JO: I mean, I was one of the longest-serving players in the team, yet no one said anything to me. It was just irritating. I know that sometimes football doesn’t show us players any respect, but I expected better from Chippa United and I wonder if anybody will be as committed as I was to the club. I am not complaining though… I just had to take it as it is. Life goes on.

BN: Let the cat out of the bag and tell us what really happened.

JO: Look, no one informed me that my contract would be terminated until I was called into a meeting in December 2018 and told the news by the chairman (Chippa Mpengesi). Before I went into that meeting, one of my teammates told me that he was also summoned into a meeting to be informed that his contract would be terminated and had heard that mine would also be terminated. That is why I feel disrespected because I made sacrifices for the club. I even took a pay cut just to save the club some money. I feel like the chairman should have called me earlier and discussed the issue with me. When I asked him why they were terminating my contract, he told me that it was never his decision and that he was overruled by the board members. He told me that it was a decision taken by the board. I had to accept that because I respect him and the people of the Eastern Cape who support this team. Football is about happiness and I didn’t want to force myself when I could see that I was no longer needed. I told myself that life has to go on. But I still feel that they should have let me know earlier so that I could make the necessary arrangements. I have my family here in Port Elizabeth and, when I went to train with Highlands Park, I had to leave them on their own for a week. It was a very difficult situation for me to handle, but I believe in God and I had to put my faith in Him. Imagine being in a foreign country and having to experience this!

BN: Did you have a chance to say goodbye to your teammates?

JO: No and I am sad I didn’t. The way it happened, you’d swear (that) I was a traitor or someone who had committed a huge crime. It’s like they wanted to get rid of me as soon as they possibly could. The way they rushed these meetings and all that… it was like they had wanted to get rid of me all along. I feel like I was wronged by the club I put my body on the line for. You know, I didn’t even speak to the media about this because of the respect that I have for Mr Mpengesi and the club’s loyal supporters. There are a lot of things that went wrong there that I am not at liberty to talk about, but the main thing he told me was that the club could not afford to pay

me anymore because of the difficult financial situation they found themselves in. All this happened after I agreed to a salary cut.

BN: Up until your exit, you had not played a game this season…

JO: (Cuts in) I don’t know, man. They didn’t want me to play and I don’t know why. When Eric Tinkler was still the coach there, he said he was having difficulties with the chairman regarding playing me and, when I asked the chairman, he said he was having difficulties in trying to convince the coach to play me. So I really don’t know to this day what exactly was happening. I was training very hard to convince the coach. When coach Joel (Masutha) came in, he said, “If you work this hard, James, why are you not playing?” Then came match day and I didn’t make the team and I asked him, “But, coach, you were impressed with my performance at training, why am I not in the team?” He said, “James, talk to the chairman.” That’s when I knew that it had nothing to do with my performances but, rather, it was ‘inside politics’.

BN: Wasn’t this all caused by the fact that you arrived late for pre-season?

JO: When did I come back for pre-season? They didn’t book my flight back from Nigeria and I had to book for myself! They told me that they would refund me, but up to today, I haven’t received my money. I still have the slips and everything with me. I didn’t go to the media and I haven’t spoken to anyone about it, all because I respect the chairman. He knows that I booked my flight and I have spoken to him… he promised me a refund, but I am yet to get it. Everybody in the club’s management knows that I am owed flight money.

BN: That must have been a difficult time for you, James.

JO: Very difficult, my brother. Imagine giving your all for the club, making huge sacrifices along the way, only to be treated like that in the end. But God is for us all. That was when I knew that I was not wanted. It really is irritating. I mean, I had to take a salary cut just to help the team, but still they were complaining about not having money. By taking that salary cut and helping Chippa, I was killing myself. Helping them is killing yourself. They owe me an apology. What they did is like building a house and, as soon as it’s done, you burn it down – that’s stupid!

BN: Hectic. In your happier times at the club, Chippa sold you to Orlando Pirates, where you’d go on to have a short and disastrous spell. You were never the same player after that.

JO: I played almost all the games when I came back from Pirates. I then got injured where I dislocated my shoulder against SuperSport United. I stayed a long time on the sidelines. I really do not want to talk about Orlando Pirates. My chapter with them is closed, but this is football – you never know what will happen tomorrow. I don’t really know what happened at Pirates because it was never about me doing anything wrong or being ill-disciplined. I am a disciplined footballer who doesn’t miss training. But it all started after we lost 6-0 to Mamelodi Sundowns – after that game, I didn’t even make the team. I am not the kind of player who is more concerned about stuff that happens in the boardroom – I focus on playing football. I suspected that there was a problem. I couldn’t just be a bad player after that game.

BN: Did you address the issue with the coach?

JO: Yes, I did ask him and his answer was that it was not his decision. That’s all coach Augusto Palacios told me. When I asked him who said that, he never gave me the name. He told me that he would never tell me who told him not to play me! In the same conversation, he told me that I would be leaving Pirates soon, and again, when I asked him where he got that from, he didn’t tell me. It turned out to be the truth because I was summoned by Floyd Mbele (Administration officer), if I’m not mistaken, and I was told that the sale between Chippa United and Pirates was concluded and that I was going back to Chippa. He told me that Dr Irvin Khoza and Mr Mpengesi had agreed to the transfer.

BN: That 6-0 drubbing by Sundowns was characterized by a very poor defensive display from Pirates.

JO: I cannot be solely responsible for that day’s poor showing by the team. We lost the game as a team – it was not James Okwuosa v Sundowns. But

I don’t hold grudges against anyone. I am thankful that I can still play football at a very competitive level like the Absa Premiership. Any situation that you find yourself in, you make the most of it and see where it takes you.

BN: James, thanks for being upfront about your situation and we hope you find a team soon.

JO: Thank you. Much appreciated!