Pirates must change the way they handle contracts

The retirement of former Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs captain Jimmy Tau has brought mixed reactions. Some have praised his leadership qualities, some have praised his football prowess, and he is remembered for many things and is up to people how they remember him.

However my attention is on the negative labels that people, especially Pirates supporters have put on Tau. Some call Jimmy a “Sell-Out” some call him a “Judas Iscariot.” I want to call him a Legend. Jimmy should be proud to have captained the two biggest teams in South African football.

I am an Orlando Pirates supporter and I have been one for 26 years. I will never call Jimmy a "Judas Iscariot"; I will never call him a "Sell-Out". These are my reasons why - My team, Orlando Pirates has a tendency of ignoring players’ contracts, they have a trend of not taking players too serious and we expect players to be loyal.

Look what they do to Lucky Lekgwathi. Is just that Lucky is too loyal and he has no choice but to stay, he is old anyway and no team will sign him as a player anymore, that's just my view thou. The Pirates Management have on many occasions, I said many occasions, let us down when it comes to players contracts.

Tso Vilakazi came back from overseas; Pirates reportedly kept him waiting, until other teams offered him a deal. Tso spoke to length about why he didn’t sign for Pirates and because Pirates didn’t say anything about him, I will believe his side of the story. Pirates expected Tso to be loyal, when they were not loyal to him themselves? Today, Pirates fans call Tso some names, and is not fair. They don't look at the reasons he left.

Look what happened to Benni McCarthy, he had to retire. Dr Irvin Khoza was reportedly too busy to talk to Rob Moore and Benni about his future, he had to leave, look now, we were not even sure if some players have a new contracts, Thulasizwe Mbuyane is reportedly a free agent, now you want players to be loyal.

Jimmy left under the same circumstance. If Pirates doesn't change, we will have more "Judas Iscariots", and we do not look at what led them to leave the team. Is not fair; Jimmy did his best but Pirates should have known he was the best and should have fought enough to keep him.

Tlou Segolela and other young players can leave the team if the trend to ignore players continues. How many Pirates development players have left Pirates? Siyabonga Nkosi, Abia Nale, the list is endless. Why? Are they all “Sell-Outs"? No.

For argument sake, I wish Jimmy all the best for the future.

I know some of you will call me a Judas Iscariot or a Sell-Out after reading this. You be the judge. I write to express, not to impress.

By Ndife Magadani

Do you agree with the writer? How many of you call Jimmy Tau a “Legend” and how many of you call him a “Sell–Out”?