After an eight-year term with one of the biggest soccer clubs in South Africa, Kaizer Chiefs’ Jimmy Tau has been let go. Tau was interviewed by Robert Marawa on his Metro FM show. He could hardly hold back emotion when he described how he had nursed an ankle injury after his final game against AmaZulu last year 2012. On the show Tau expressed that he was “hurt, but not bitter” over the club’s decision to ditch him.

“I thought I had another season. But they called me in on a Thursday, my agent and Bobby Motaung, the football manager,” he recalled. “The coach saw it all, he saw how hard I worked. Stuart Baxter [the coach] told me he wanted me to stay. He said he had recommended a new contract for me,” Tau further revealed. “Bobby told me that I wasn’t in the coach’s plans. I couldn’t understand it,” he said.

Jimmy also expressed gratitude towards the club and was reluctant to chastise the team. “This is a lesson to young footballers living in [a] comfort zone. You cannot rely on the longevity of a professional football career,” Tau advised. “What they have done to my career – not my life – hurt me. But I will survive it,” said Tau.

When asked whether there were any teams that wanted him for the next season, he responded by saying “I don’t know about that. Let’s see what God decides.”