Parker: ‘I Was Done Wrong At Chiefs

Spread the love

Read Time:2 Minute, 19 Second

JOHANNESBURG: A host of other players were left disappointed by their own exits at the club.

Former Kaizer Chiefs and Bafana Bafana striker Bernard Parker has lifted the lid on his quiet departure from the Glamour Boys in June 2023.

The now TS Galaxy player opened up about his disappointing exit at the Soweto giants, on Metro FM on Thursday night. Die Hond, as Parker is known in football circles, spent 11 seasons at Kaizer Chiefs, scoring 64 goals in over 350 matches. Prior to his departure, he captained the club for two seasons.

“I was told to go [on] holiday and then come back and tell them [Chiefs] what I want to do. I came back and I told them what I wanted to do. But I never heard anything back from them. That’s when I had to make certain decisions because I have a family that I need to look after,” Parker revealed.

The now TS Galaxy striker, who is nursing a serious injury (after his leg was broken by Bongani Zungu), is not the only player who left Chiefs acrimoniously.

According to Parker, a host of other players were left disappointed by their own exits at the club. “Even players that left Chiefs the same way that I left, said ‘Ha, you’re one of us, we thought you would stay on in another role at Chiefs.”

“Even I was surprised with how things ended at Chiefs. I acknowledged I was done wrong at Chiefs but I moved on,” he further revealed.

This begs the question as to how Chiefs treat its legends. Most recently, Chiefs goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune reiterated that his body can carry him above 40, as he wishes to follow in the footsteps of Italian and Egyptian goalkeepers, Gianluigi Buffon and Essam El-Hadary, respectively.

“If Buffon could do it until he is 45, El-Hadary could do it until 44, who am I at the age of 36 to entertain the fact that someone has an idea that Itumeleng must be retired,” said the club captain, posing the rhetoric question ahead of the Soweto derby at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, Gauteng province, on 11 November.

In June, the club announced that it had extended his contract by a year. Thereafter, read the club’s statement, the former Bafana Bafana captain will hang up his gloves and take up a new role within its marketing department.

Commenting on the club statement, Khune said: “The club might have released a statement, which is well respected, but at the end of the day I am competing and I have been playing.”

Meanwhile, Parker has a plan for life after his playing days are over. He recently acquired a CAF C licence, while he is on the shelf.