Former Mpumalanga Black Aces striker Jacob 'Dukes' Machaka has revealed how Muhsin Ertugral denied him the chance to represent Kaizer Chiefs.
The former Aces dangerman is from the royal family in the Machaka clan, which originally hails from Botswana and Lesotho.
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Machaka says he was scouted by Screamer Tshabalala, but Ertugral was not interested in his services.
"My brother my wish was to play for one of those big teams, unfortunately, things didn't go well," Machaka tells snl24.com/kickoff.
"I remember when I was at Ria Stars, Screamer Tshabalala came and took me to Naturena where I trained with Kaizer Chiefs when Robson Muchichwa was still injured. Screamer was the one who scouted me, and Muhsin Ertugral was never interested. That's when I came back to Ria Stars.
"Chiefs wanted a replacement for the injured Muchichwa, I was still a free agent, still negotiating a new contract with Ria Stars. Muhsin Ertugral didn't want me there because Screamer Tshabalala and Muhsin Ertugral were not on good terms.
"I arrived in Naturena, they were giving me a pre-season contract, everything was on the table. It was around 1999. They called the man, they told him I must start training with the team, he disagreed with Screamer Tshabalala. That's when Screamer told me to go back to Ria Stars and prove him wrong.
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"It motivated me, I never looked down. I lived football, I ate football and I drank football, until I retired at the age of 39. My first professional club was Ria Stars. I played there for eight months then Mahwelereng Real Rovers bought me. They had the likes of Barnes Bapela, Gerald Raphahlela and Andries Sebola.
"Those days at Ria Stars we would only earn a R500 allowance. For a win we would get a R200 bonus. When Rovers bought me at least I got R2 500 a month.
"It was in 1997, I enjoyed my football at Ria Stars my brother. When we got promotion to the PSL the competition [was good], because we were had the likes of Thabang Lebese, Frank Makua, Thapelo Liau. I enjoyed competing against Robson Muchichwa when he joined from Kaizer Chiefs.
"I then went to City Pillars in the first division, after City Pillars it was Maritzburg United. After Maritzburg United I went to Mpumalanga Aces, where we played a Nedbank Cup final at Johannesburg Stadium against [Mamelodi] Sundowns, they beat us 1-0. That's when we got promotion, I was 35, 36, I was the oldest player in the team.
"I retired at Polokwane City as an assistant coach to David Bright and Vladislav Heric. That's where I ended my career. I told myself that I want to focus on my coaching course.
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"I'm married, got two children who are girls. These days I'm here at home. I have opened a Dukes Machaka Sports Development Academy. And I'm busy doing these coaching courses. I did the D-Licence, now I'm going for the C-License. I have tried to apply for lottery, maybe they can help these young boys. We took them away from the streets."