Riyaad Norodien remembered the time when Muhsin Ertugral apologised to him after the Turkish coach left Orlando Pirates abruptly.
“Skilo” as he is nicknamed, also goes into detail with regards to his transfer fee from Ajax Cape Town to the Buccaneers in June 2016.
“Orlando Pirates signed me because they saw something that I was doing right. I don’t have any regrets, not many can say they went to a team like Orlando Pirates at the age of 21,” Riyaad Norodien told ThisIsFootball.Africa.
“For me it’s part of history, most players go there with some experience. Everything didn’t go as planned because the coach got fired or he resigned because of one result. After that, the Chairman of Pirates gave me his blessing to go on loan to Platinum Stars, I wanted to play football, as I wasn’t playing football much at Pirates after that.”
As the winger went down memory lane, he believes that he could have done better at Pirates, but the coach Muhsin Ertugral, leaving not long after he had arrived, played a major role in his negative trajectory. One of his biggest challenges was not being able to find a club, even though he was such an experienced campaigner in the topflight, as well as having age on his side. Surprisingly, no team came in for him. It’s something Norodien struggles to explain or understand.
“Being at Pirates was a great experience. As a youngster, you and your best friend and teammate, Mobara basically getting sold together to Pirates for a combined fee of 12 million rand. Imagine at 20, 21 years old for that price, which means that something must have sparked them, that they wanted to pay that amount of money,” continued former Cape Town City forward.
“You go there because the coach wants you and believes in you. Then you play most of the games. Then suddenly the coach (Muhsin Ertugral) resigns. Actually, one day he met me at the airport, and he apologised to me, because he left me basically at Pirates. But I said you him, that this is football, and you can only grow from these experiences. I’ve got nothing bad to say about Orlando Pirates. At clubs like Pirates the squads are bigger, and they always want to bring in the best players, and there is always a lot of competition for places. It was a quality environment.”
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