Legendary Mozambican forward Manuel 'Tico-Tico' Bucuane has detailed how he spent the peak of his playing days at Jomo Cosmos before he eventually secured a lucrative move at the age of 31.
Spotted at the 1996 AFCON finals played here in South Africa, Tico-Tico was snapped by Jomo Sono and featured for the club in the Coca-Cola Challenge mini-league used to bridge the gap that came about with domestic football abandoning the full calendar year system in the birth of the PSL.
Part 1 I From scoring goals in the PSL to working as a security guard
Tico-Tico ultimately scored 106 goals (104 in the PSL era) playing for a South African top league club and still holds the record for being the first-ever foreign player to reach triple figures on the scoring charts.
After all the years he spent at Cosmos during which he had brief spells in China and USA, he played for SuperSport United, Orlando Pirates, and Maritzburg United before returning to Ezenkosi past his best years.
"I was soft plus I never had an aggressive manager, someone who would say 'hey, Tico, you are playing your best football, you need to go now,'" Tico-Tico tells KickOff.
"I was making all the decisions by myself, and it is not easy having to deal with Jomo.
"Jomo has been in this game for a long time, and it is easy for him to persuade someone to stay by giving you something like an extra R10 000 to stay yet you could have made more by leaving.
"The issue is that when you are still playing, and you are young you never think about you will stop playing.
"You always think you have all these years ahead of you to play but from being 20 you become 25 then 30 and next thing you will be lucky to still play at 35.
"At 25 you feel like the strongest man ever and never think you will ever stop playing and when another year goes by you are given R10 000 from the R10 000 that you are getting so you feel you are progressing.
"Today, it is different because players are exposed and there are a lot more people involved on the business side of the game.
"Nowadays, players have people around them for the business side and players just focus on playing.
"The manager is looking for good deals for the player all the time but with us, we never had those things.
"I remember, I went to play in America, and with my contract at Cosmos coming to an end one guy there wanted me to stay for longer and get me deals to continue there but Jomo called me and started promising me something else on my new contract.
"Next thing I preferred coming back than staying in America.
"I never had someone close to look up to because the team here (Desportivo Maputo) sold me to Cosmos and that was it.
"Next thing it was Jomo running his whole show over me.
"In the first year (1996) I came to South Africa I only signed a registration form and never had a contract.
"I was aware that I didn't have a contract so after my first season I came back home and while here I told Jomo that I wanted to buy a house for myself and knew how much it is.
"So, I told him that if you want me to continue then you must give me this much because I knew the value of that house.
"Jomo went around for a while until I signed a pre-contract with a team here in Mozambique that promised to buy me a house.
"When Jomo realised that I was serious he ran and gave me the money that I wanted to buy the house.
"Yet before that he wanted to play around with me but luckily, I was aware that nothing was holding me at Cosmos and knew what I wanted.
"That was the only way to get the money from Jomo.
"I was still young, but I had that vision with the plus of that my family was helping me as well.
"Then with the times I went to China and America I was still under contract at Cosmos so I would be loaned out and Jomo is the one who would get paid.
"At that point, he was really taking advantage of me.
"At Cosmos, we had so many foreign players that came and went but I was the only one who lasted so long.
"I was taken for a ride and was just content with everything that was happening while all other guys never stayed for long.
"Benji (Mwaruwari) came and quickly left for Europe where he ended up in England, Esau Kanyenda went to Russia, and this was all because they had people around them pressing Jomo for the deals to happen.
"The number of players who left for Europe while I was at Cosmos was crazy.
"I really don't know what made him (Sono) hold on to me for so long.
"I really don't but then it is what it is and all we can do now is advice the players to go for it and be a little bit selfish because life after football is harsh.
"After you are done playing you need to still have money so that you have options," says Tico-Tico.
You must be Sign In to read and post comments.
Click here to register: Sign In