The coach made it clear…
Tshepang Mailwane: To start things off, and to clarify, were you on trial at AmaZulu FC before they signed you?
Ramahlwe Mphahlele: I don’t really know what to call it. They were interested and they said I should come over. It was not a trial. The coach (Brandon Truter) always wanted me to come and wanted to see where I am. You know in South Africa, once you are over 30, there’s questions on, “Can he still do it?” It becomes a bit of a problem. I never got a feeling that I was on trial. For me, it was like, “Let’s negotiate while you are here training.” After I left Naturena, I remember I had a conversation with my son when I fetched him from school. He said, “Daddy, I was listening to Metro FM and I hear you are leaving Kaizer Chiefs.” Then he said, “Where are you going to go now?” I asked him where he wants me to go. He said, “Can you go back to Sundowns?” I said, “No, I can’t go back there.” He said, “Go to Pirates.” I told him, “No, I am from Chiefs. You can’t just go from Chiefs to Pirates.” Then he was like, “Can you go back to Swallows?” I said, “I can definitely go back to Swallows.” Then he said, “AmaZulu?” I said, “Yes, AmaZulu is actually a good team that I would love to play for.” When they said I should come over, I saw it as an opportunity to play outside the province for a change. I had been in Gauteng since my development days. It’s a new lease on life and I’m enjoying it so far.
TM: Does having played for Chiefs give you an easier or harder time to find another club?
RM: You can say both, because I had teams that would say, “No, we can’t afford him” without even asking me or making an offer. So, it makes it harder. But again, you can’t expect to earn what you were earning at Chiefs at other teams. Teams pay different and you just have to be reasonable and say, “I’m not at Chiefs anymore.” But also, if you have the quality to play for Chiefs or Sundowns for many years, it means you can play for other teams and you are capable of delivering. I think when you come from a bigger team, you have a level of advantage.
TM: Did you expect to leave the Soweto giants?
RM: We spoke when the season was about to end. Remember, I was playing regularly, and I had a very good combination with Siya (Ngezana). We kept a couple of clean sheets. We spoke to management, and they said, “Don’t worry about your contract, we will sort it out.” But in football, things change. When we opened for pre-season, we had talks and it was decided that the club is taking a new direction and I would not be part of it. I was there for six years and gave it my all. But honestly, I wanted to stay for one more season and try to see how the new revival was going to go and help where I can with my experience. At the end of the day, some decisions have to be made. You can’t take a new direction with the same old package. You have to let go of people and bring in other people.
TM: Did you not have any talks with coach Arthur Zwane?
RM: The coach made it clear that he wanted me to stay and work with me going forward. Everybody made it clear that they wanted me to stay, but things change in football. Yes, we all want to get paid, but you also want to enjoy. You want to be in an environment where you can be free and enjoy your football. Kaizer (Motaung Jnr) had to make decisions
on all of us. That’s
Having arrived as a marquee signing from Mamelodi Sundowns at the beginning of the 2016/17 season, Ramahlwe Mphahlele’s career stalled at Kaizer Chiefs, if truth be told. He, however, formed part of the plans for most of the coaches that came and went during his time at the club, but will unfortunately always be regroup membered as part of the of Amakhosi players that failed to end a drought now going into its eighth year. With coach Arthur Zwane now at the wheel, so to speak, it appeared as though the former junior international would be part of the reckoning going into the current campaign, but football being such an unpredictable game, has since departed Naturena. 44 Isaiah Road, Durban North is where the 32-year-old star clocks in for work these days, having been snapped up by AmaZulu FC, who have a promising project going on under coach Brandon Truter. Soccer Laduma’s Tshepang Mailwane got in touch with Mphahlele to talk about what precipitated the move, handling pressure at the Soweto giants and the winning culture at Mamelodi Sundowns. what leaders do, you make difficult decisions.
TM: In your six years at the club, was it a happy environment?
RM:
It had patches. When I got there, Steve (Komphela) was in charge. We had good moments. It’s just that at Chiefs, if results are not forthcoming, it becomes a place where you don’t want to go because the pressure grows every day. We had good moments. We went to finals and we lost the league on the final day. We had different coaches. It was a rollercoaster, honestly speaking. Sometimes it was good, sometimes it was bad.
TM: Were you able to handle that pressure as players?
RM: The pressure is bigger. And it’s not bigger at the Village, it’s bigger outside, where you meet the fans. When you lose a game, everybody is on your case. Sometimes when we are winning games and things are coming together, it’s nice to be a Chiefs player. When things are not okay, it becomes a dull environment. I managed to control my emotions and the pressure. These days, life is on social media and I find that a lot of players live in that space. Those spaces can damage you psychologically. You play today, you get Man of the Match and you are a brilliant player. When you lose the next game, then you are a horrible player. I told myself that I cannot live like that because they are kind of controlling how I feel. So, it was best to stay off it (social media) so that I can focus on myself. The fact is you cannot become a bad player overnight. I think players should manage the time they spend there. When we lost games, they would obviously look at the senior players. If Rama is playing, (Daniel) Cardoso is playing, “Tower” (Erick Mathoho), Bernard (Parker)… chances are they will say we cost them the game, rather than the youngsters.
TM: Were senior players used as scapegoats?
RM: I think the fans were expecting us to carry the team. In any environment where things are not going well, they look at the senior people and ask why they are not delivering. I don’t expect fans to point fingers at (Nkosingiphile) Ngcobo or Mdu Tshabalala or Happy Mashiane. I expect them to point at me, to point at Parker. We were the senior players at Chiefs and we needed to make sure that the team delivers. It was our responsibility. I don’t think we were scapegoats, but I think they expected us to carry the team. It’s a fair expectation.
I would not say too heavy, but it’s a responsibility you don’t carry alone as a player. The whole band needs to come together. Everybody must come on board. It’s not easy to play for Kaizer Chiefs because you have 30+ games to play. You have to be at your best all the time, which is kind of impossible – you’ll have an off day. We tried to win trophies and compete, but we fell short. For me, the success was in the efforts that we put to get to the Champions League final and to lose the league on the last day. Had we had luck here and there, we could easily have said we’ve won the Champions League, the Nedbank Cup and the league.
TM: What did this do to you as players on a mental level? RM: I think psychologically it affected a lot of us. Remember there was the drought that was always spoken about in the media and on social media. Losing the final of the Champions League… those things come back and play in your mind. Fortunately, we had a sports psychologist who would come to the Village and talk to us. The club did their bit.
TM: During your time there, why did Amakhosi not win trophies?
RM: I don’t know what to pin it down on. But for me, the other thing I found impacted how we would go about the season was too many changes in the coaching department. I got there with Steve and when you were getting used to his tactics, they cut it. Then came (Giovanni) Solinas and they cut it. Then came (Ernst) Middendorp and they cut it. Then came Gavin (Hunt) and they cut it. Then when we were trying to get into a rhythm with Stuart (Baxter), then they cut it. It also frustrates you as a player, and then another coach can come in and say you are not in his plans. For me, too many changes had an impact. All these coaches come with their philosophies. Like with Arthur, they should give him a chance. Change takes time.
TM: When Middendorp left after losing the league on the final day of the 2019/20 season, was there any surprise from the players?
RM: It’s not nice to see a coach losing his job because it has an impact. And change is difficult in football. But it’s results-driven. With Middendorp, we were number two. If there was no lockdown, we could have gone on with that momentum. It’s not nice, but that’s football. I am sure they had reasons why they let him go. I know he did not like me that much, but he was not a bad coach at all.
TM: Why did he not RM: I think we played one game in Polokwane, and I had an interview (after that). I think he misunderstood what I said in the media. At some stage, he said, “Why did you say that in the media?” I said, “We did not play well in that game.” It was the first time in my career where I got called into the office to get asked, “Why did you do this?” I found myself getting in trouble a lot with him.
like you?
TM: Was that the first time in your career where you did not have a good relationship with a coach? RM: Yes, it was the first time. I am a leader. Wherever I am, I want to lead and practice my leadership skills. I think we did not find a way of working (together). I am vocal about thing s. I talk on the pitch and tell players what to do. That’s me and I don’t think he liked me that much. He said, “You are not in my plans.” I said it’s fine, but I had a constay. tract and I had to I trained and then he came back and said, “I need to use you.” That was the relationship with him and I. I respect the fact he came to me and told me straight up. I have so much respect for a coach that says, ‘This is how I feel about you.’ With Ernst, I knew that I was not in the plans, but I still had to work hard until he changed his mind. I played a couple of games. He is a good coach. He loves his job. you, Khama Leonardo to deliver because of
TM: Do you think that Billiat, Keagan Dolly and Castro had more pressure at the Naturena-based side the success you had at Chloorkop?
RM:
Football is not an individual sport. You know, at Sundowns, we cultivated so much spir it of teamwork. We did things together and we had a coach (Pitso Mosimane) who demanded and demanded. That’s why the team was doing so well. When you leave that team and you go to another team, remember, it’s one player joining 30 players. It’s not 30 players joining one player. It’s hard for you to do the same things you were doing at your previous team. It’s going to be hard for Dolly and Khama to do what they did for Sundowns because there we had one coach for four or five years. We knew what he wanted. The kind of culture you are walking into is important. Are you walking into a culture of winning or a culture where it’s okay to lose and post on Instagram? I think it’s important for teams like Chiefs to cultivate a culture whereby anybody who joins the team is joining a culture of winning, discipline and everything.
TM: What culture did you walk into at Chiefs?
RM: I walked into almost the same culture. They had a winning culture, but it was not the same as the one we had at Sundowns. They wanted to win every game, but things did not go as we planned.
TM: Thank you so much for your time, Rama. With AmaZulu facing Kaizer Chiefs in the semi-finals of the MTN8, hopefully you get to win a trophy soon with your new club.
RM: Thank you. ❐
“I told myself that I cannot live like that because…”
“I respect the fact he came to me and told me straight up.”