Ngobeni living a nightmare

It was reported last week that the player had not been paid a salary by Abafana Bes'thende since the end of last season, and that remains the case with the player's lawyers now set to take the club to court.

The Bafana Bafana midfielder is living a nightmare, and with Pirates unsympathetic to his plight it looks as though he may have to sit out the new season as well, with the player registration deadline looming.

As he still technically has 12 months remaining on his contract with Arrows, he cannot attempt to find another team, though with the KwaZulu-Natal club clearly in breach, he may have cause.

Should his lawyers not be successful in getting his money, he could petition the PSL, Safa and ultimately Fifa to intervene, though none of those will be quick solutions.

"The situation is that Clifford signed an 18-month loan contract with Golden Arrows and after six months they have reneged and stopped paying him what they are contractually bound to do so," the player's business manager Rob Moore says.

"Clifford has financial responsibilities, he has a mortgage to pay, and the club for reasons known only to them have refused. It astounds me that a club in the South African League can act in such a way towards a player, blatantly ignoring  a contract they have signed with him.

"And he has now been frozen out at Pirates too, who have just said he must go back to Golden Arrows to collect his money.

"You can say what you like about the South African League and improvements here and there, but if this kind of situation still arises then it reflects poorly on the competition.

"It is totally unacceptable, Golden Arrows seem intent on just ignoring the situation and hoping it will disappear. I can assure them it won't."