Lekopanye Mooketsi
31 July 2008
Former Extension Gunners' top striker, Tiroyamodimo 'TRX' Mohambi said he joined Gaborone United (GU) because he admires the coach, Mike Sithole.
Mohambi, who was the second leading scorer in the league last season with 17 goals, believes that he can learn a lot from Sithole. "I chose Sithole because I felt that he is the best coach in the country. I think he can take me places."
He feels that Sithole can make him a better player and even enhance his chances of getting a lucrative deal to play abroad. "I am aiming high. I don't want to end my playing days in Botswana," he said. He thinks Sithole is the only man who can make him realise his dreams of playing professionally.
However, Mohambi does not underrate his former coach at Gunners, Daniel 'Chicco' Nare.
He said Nare was a good coach who revived his career. "He pulled me up," he said.
Mohambi joined Gunners at the beginning of last season from BMC and hit a rich vein of form.
He says Sithole is not the only reason he left Gunners. He revealed that GU offered him a better contract. He denied holding Gunners at ransom by making unreasonable demands. "It was not too much, I was considering my life. I was not demanding too much," he said. He stressed that football these days is all about money and players livelihoods depend on the game. "You can't stay with a team if you cannot eat anything.
Football is my life. I just depend on football." Mohambi said if Gunners met his demands, he would not have left.
"We did not agree on terms. This was one of the things that made me leave," he said. He wanted the Lobatse side to come up with a better offer. He denied that he had long made a decision to leave Gunners at the end of the season.
"I was considering many factors and this is why I opted for GU. I don't regret leaving Gunners. I enjoyed my stay at Gunners and this is why I gave them the first priority when it came to negotiations. But they didn't explain that they could not meet my demands."
Mohambi's ambition at GU is to clinch the league and challenge for the Coca-Coca Cup.
"I think I can still maintain my scoring touch and even perform better at GU than Gunners."
Other clubs that Mohambi played for are FC Satmos, where he started his football career and Mogoditshane Fighters. He has played for the national Under 17, Under 20 and Under 23 sides. He was recently called to the senior national team. However, he was left out when the team participated in the COSAFA games, due to an injury.
Gunners' spokesperson, Cassim Dada said Mohambi has not been negotiating with them in good faith because he had approached almost all the Premier League clubs for a deal. He said they could not bend backwards to meet his unreasonable demands.
Dada said the player's loyalty to the club was in doubt. He said it is not good to have a player who is not loyal to the team. He said that though Mohambi is a good striker, they can easily replace him. He asserted that players always leave clubs and so it is not a big deal that Mohambi has left Gunners.
He said they are disappointed that the player approached many clubs to look for greener pastures.
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