Former Kaizer Chiefs star Michael Nkambule has opened up about his drinking, and how it affected his once-promising football career.
During his teenage years, Nkambule went on trial with Manchester United. But despite impressing Alex Ferguson, a potential move broke down due to the country’s visa laws, which required him to have played 70% of the senior national team’s games.
After spending some time in France with Strasbourg FC, he returned to South Africa permanently in 2007 with a view of playing himself into contention for a spot in the Bafana Bafana squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
The player was given the Number 10 jersey when he re-signed with his boyhood club, Kaizer Chiefs. However, at Chiefs, he could not convince then head coach Muhsin Ertugral that he deserved to play regularly.
It was during his struggles for first team football that saw him sink into the bottle.
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“When I arrived at Chiefs, I played under Muhsin. I played some games, and sometimes I did not play. Sometimes I was a substitute. I started to get frustrated. What I realised was that when you are not playing, that’s when you need to be focused the most.
“When you’re not playing, you need to be serious. Where the downfall is, is that when I don’t play, that’s when I drink the most. When the team was away at camp, I would go buy alcohol. I looked at it like I was getting rid of stress. I wasn’t getting rid of stress, I was killing myself.
“Because when we go back to training on Monday, after five or six games, how will my body be? The others are training and playing every day, but I’m not playing. Instead, I’m drinking every day. When you’re not playing, you don’t train as hard as someone who is playing every week,” he said.
Nkambule eventually left Chiefs in 2010, and began a journeyman existence that took him to clubs like Sivutsa Stars, Black Leopards and Roses United in two years.
But, it was at Black Leopards that Nkambule earned R20,000 a month, his highest salary throughout his football career.
While training at Harold “Jazzy Queen” Legodi’s academy, Nkambule attended trials at Lidoda Duvha as he was looking to get back into the top flight after leaving Sivutsa Stars. While on trial, Nkambule did enough to convince owner David Thidiela, who was watching for afar, to offer him a contract.
“When I was meant to sign the contract, I saw it was R10,000 for five years. I wanted to cry. I told them I didn’t mind signing for R10,000, but I asked them to decrease the years, and they refused. I asked for an increase, but they said there was no budget… I had to take care of my child, and I had to pay R6,000. I was told to either sign the contract or go back home.
“At home, what was I going to do? So I went back to the office and signed the contract.”
Fortunately for Nkambule, Thidiela had a change of heart and told him he would double his salary if his performances on the pitch helped the team.
IOL Sport