Former Kaizer Chiefs youth coach Lebogang Charles Ndebele has revealed how he had to beg the club’s Under 15 coaches to give 13-year-old Mpho Makola a chance.
Bibo cut his football teeth at Vaal Killers, which played in the Chappies Little League, from as early as 6.
But it was the stint with Amakhosi’s juniors that set him on the pedestal. Of course, it started in an unspectacular fashion. The tiny lil’ boy from ‘Gomorrah’ was initially turned away because there were too many players in the Chiefs junior side.
MPHO MAKOLA TURNED AWAY
“They had turned him away, and I felt for the poor boy. I felt bad,” Ndebele told FARPost in a previous interview.
For Ndebele, affectionately known as ‘Chief’ in football circles, the most significant thing this scrawny-looking teenager had done was save money to attend the unplanned trial in Milo Park.
“He was only allowed to train with the team because he had come, and we couldn’t let him leave without playing. I remember we played Rondo [a type of game similar to keep away that’s used as a training drill in football], and I saw his good touches and football brain. I decided I’d help the boy,” adds Ndebele.
Exactly a fortnight later, Ndebele invited Makola to his Under 17 side for a friendly match because some players were away preparing for exams.
“The boy was buzzing in that friendly match. He was untouchable, and everyone loved him. That’s how Mpho was signed at Chiefs,” reveals Ndebele.
CHIEFS STINT ENDED ABRUPTLY
But four years later, his journey with the Phefeni Glamour Boys ended abruptly. It cut short his hopes of one day pulling on the black and gold shirt. This was after he refused to sign a professional contract, which would, however, see him continue in the junior set-up.
“I knew that contract would bind me, and I’d be stuck in the development team; I wanted to play senior team football,” Makola told FARPost.
And so, he joined Alex’s amateur side, Sheffield United ekasi. But that came with all sorts of negative influences fast driving him off the rails.
He later joined Sheffield, and by his admission, some of his best amateur football was played at the amateur side.
And his ingenuity in the middle of the park did not go unnoticed with several trial stints at Ajax Cape Town, Santos and later Mamelodi Sundowns.
“At Ajax, I scored in a friendly game, and they wanted to sign me, but Chiefs demanded compensation. Ajax refused to pay, and I went back home and told myself I’d not go back to Chiefs,” Makola says.
The Cape Town City midfielder eventually got his PSL breakthrough at Harold ‘Jazzy Queen’ Legodi’s Africa Sport Youth Development Academy in 2007.
At the time, the academy was also home to Patrick Phungwayo, Lehlogonolo Masalesa and Oupa Manyisa.
ALMOST QUIT
Growing frustrated as his teammates were securing moves to PSL sides, Makola discloses how he almost called it quits.
“I was on the verge of giving up. My mom suggested that I go back to school. But I looked at my medal cabinet. I was an amateur player, but I kept collecting medals everywhere I played,” he says, adding that he had already applied for a place at the Tshwane University of Technology.
Luckily, he hung on a little and put up a five-star performance in the Walter Sisulu tournament in December 2007.
“I didn’t know there were scouts from Free State Stars, and I scored three free-kicks in one game. Jazzy didn’t tell me I’d secured a trial at Free State Stars until January,” he says.
There was beginning to be a ray of sunlight. After a successful stint in the Free State, he was signed by Orlando Pirates before moving to the Cape Town outfit.
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