Kaizer Chiefs and Bafana Bafana legend Doctor Khumalo has revealed the advice club founder and chairman Dr. Kaizer Motaung gave him that helped him more than anything else in his career.
Khumalo played for the Amakhosi between 1987 and 2004 and is regarded as one of the best South African players to have graced the local game.
16V is still one of the most respected legends in Mzansi and took part in a Q&A during the opening of the PUMA Player’s Lounge in Cape Town.
Among many topics discussed, Khumalo was asked about his off-the-pitch life during his playing days but insisted most of the reports were just media stories because he opted to focus on his game after receiving sound advice from Kaizer Motaung.
“I was summoned by the chairman to the office and he said ‘fun will always be there but talent will scale,’” he said during the event, which was attended by iDiski Times.
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“‘So you need to choose which side is on. Give me 10 years and come back to me, you must build a brand’.
“After those words by the chairman I had to adjust and focus on what’s important to me.
“His advice made me who I am and where I am today.
“So about me doing whatever was written in the papers, I was focused on the game.”
Khumalo also revealed that he had to leave some of his teenage friends behind because they were focused too much on distractions off the pitch, in order for him to thrive in his own career.
“Personally, all the boys that I grew up with, I had to divorce them and build new friendships with players from Pirates and Sundowns because they walk, they talk, they eat – simple,” he added.
“The guys that are into entertainment [off the pitch] and all that, I had to say thank you.
“It’s really about you, you must focus on yourself, give yourself 10 years, five years [without distractions] and you will reap the rewards.”
