Retired midfielder Daniel 'Sailor' Tshabalala has revealed how he earned more money playing for FC AK in the first division than he did in his prime at Orlando Pirates.
Tshabalala moved to FC AK during the winter of 2006 after spending three years at Pirates, where he introduced himself with flashes of flair which infuriated Tottenham Hotspur manage Glen Hoddle.
"In the first three months at FC AK I felt like a king because there was better money than what I was getting at Pirates. Even the offers that I was getting from other PSL teams were less than what I was getting from FC AK," said Tshabalala in the latest edition of KICK OFF magazine.
Tshabalala took home R15 000 when he joined at Pirates in 2003 with his earnings improving when he went down to play in the first division for FC AK.
"I turned professional at 26, so I asked myself about whether this should be about making money in Mvela or chasing fame in the PSL, and I chose money.
"I knew I would come back to the PSL because the mission was to get FC AK promoted right away, since we had the material and I had done it before. However, when the money started not coming into my account, I took my clearance right away.
"Being at FC AK helped in a way because I now had a payslip that had to be either matched or bettered. Silver Stars offered me less and I just decided to focus on football from there."
In the same interview, the 43-year-old talks in depth of his decision to leave Pirates, being robbed of his insurance pay out, smoking marijuana for health reasons, snubbing Mamelodi Sundowns and the chaos of the 2006 AFCON finals amongst a variety of other subjects.