Gabadinho Mhango has been given straight talk by a fellow Malawian whose career was torn by matters related to failure of handling his off the field life.
Mhango is now at Moroka Swallows after his stay at AmaZulu lasted only a season with the controversy of what happened while he was at Orlando Pirates still haunting him up to this day.
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The stocky striker has now been told to take care of his name for the benefit of his life past playing career.
"I have been talking to Gabadinho over the phone and sending him messages encouraging him," says former Mamelodi Sundowns and Wits University midfielder Chancy Gondwe who is of Malawian origin.
Gondwe's career sunk into the mud due to his off-field tendencies of frequenting nightclubs, binge drinking, and weakness for 'ladies of the night'.
"There was a time when they dropped him from the national team here in MalawI because of what they heard he was doing in South Africa.
"I was planning to come and meet him face to face in South Africa immediately afterwards but unfortunately, I couldn't travel.
"However, he is a one of the guys who is a victim of one of the things that I was doing related to how to handle fame and the friends that he is having.
"The football career will ultimately come to an end, and he will need a good image from football in whatever he gets to do next afterwards.
"This career shouldn't stop when you are done playing at the professional level, but you should continue reaping the benefits of having had a good name.
"When you are active your name will earn the respect of those that you may need when you are done playing be it in the route of coaching or business.
"I messed up but was still able to go to the Bible School for three years and come out to use the word of God to reach out in football because I also played.
"A lot of players are not educated so they need to respect the profession better than they do so that their playing days look after them when they are retired.
"The truth of the matter is that the name you build while playing has the potential of carrying you all the way through.
"With us the unfortunate part is that when we played there was no none to guide us.
"Everyone was doing whatever they so felt they wanted to do.
"Now that God has kept me alive up to now, it is for a purpose of speaking to people like Gabadinho.
"I think he is coming into the camp for the game against Guinea on September, so I think I will need to sit down with Gabadinho and discuss the way forward.
"He is now around 30 so this is the right time to forget about whatever happened in the past and focus on the road ahead," says Gondwe.
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