He let himself down

Glyn Binkin – Chabangu’s former agent

“I’ve always had a soft spot for Lerato as he was one of my very first clients and arguably one of my most talented clients and I knew if he listened to me, he would go a very long way in his career. The challenge with Lerato was always trying to get him to listen to me. Although he was always very respectful when we met and spoke, more often than not he chose to listen to the people who told him what he wanted to hear rather than to people like myself who told him the reality of the situation. He also had a bad circle of friends who I always warned him about and against and I always told him that when his football career ends or when he has no money left, he will then see who his real friends were. As much as we tried to help him over many, many years, he unfortunately more often than not let himself down. As an agent or player manager, one of our tasks is to advise our clients on various aspects of their careers. We hope that they will take our advice as it is based on sound experience over a sustained period of time. Many of the clients take our advice, whilst some We were always there for Lerato in the good times and, more importantly, in the bad times. To be honest, I haven’t seen or spoken to him for a few months now as I have been travelling extensively of late, in particular, and it unfortunately got to a stage with Lerato that no matter what I spoke to him about he never wanted to listen, which was a very difficult situation for me as I knew it was not the Lerato of old that I was dealing with and that issues such as alcoholism, which I know he himself has been vocal about, contributed towards his demise on and off the field. There was only so much we could do but, at some stage, he himself needed to take responsibility and deal with his issues, which I am pleased to see he has finally done. I have, however, been following his progress with great interest and I’m delighted to see that he is back in action again and that he acknowledges that he was given good sound advice and unfortunately did not always listen to. My door will always be open for Lerato if he ever wanted any advice from me again, on or off the field. I wish more South African players would learn from the likes of Lerato and what he has been through. ”