Coaches I’ve worked with: I thought Jeff hated me!

When the late coach, Jeff Butler – may his soul rest in peace – arrived at Chiefs, he didn’t look like a football coach at all! He was so quiet and looking at everyone over his spectacles. As soon as he took to the field, wow! We were blown away because he was such a knowledgeable and disciplinarian coach. He was so strict and wanted everyone to do things for the team and not individual glory. Out of all the coaches I’ve worked with, this is the only coach who was always on my case! Every time I used my skill, Jeff would yell at me because all he wanted was basic football, which was never my strength. I will never forget the day he spent the whole half-time break shouting and screaming at me, as we were trailing Bloemfontein Celtic by 2-0 in a cup game, and I couldn’t believe it because it felt like he had something against me. I thought he hated me! I felt like not going back to the field, but Ace (Khuse), (Wellington) Manyathi and even Bobby (Motaung) urged me to go back and play. The worst part is that the whole Chiefs board was in the change room when this happened. Long story short, we beat Celtic 3-2, with me creating two goals and scoring the winner! I won the Man of the Match trophy and R3000 re-ward. Guess what the coach said? “That’s what I wanted out of you, boy! You’re going to buy me beer at the airport.” Ha, ha, ha, can you believe it? After shouting at me so much and I kept wondering what kind of a human being is this? That’s how he got the best out of me. Apparently, someone told him to put pressure on me if he wanted to bring out the best in me and he really improved my game and made me stronger.