Former Orlando Pirates captain Happy Jele has taken his time to advise current club skipper Innocent Maela, who is reportedly being offered a role at the club on condition that he retires.
Maela is said to have been offered an administrative role at Pirates after the Soweto giants took a decision not to renew his contract, which is set to expire at the end of the season.
The 32-year-old had a major setback with injuries this season, which made it difficult for him to break into coach Jose Riveiro’s line-up, with Deon Hotto and Paseka Mako preferred over him in the left-back position.
He only managed to play 11 games in the Betway Premiership this season.
Maturity will be key
Jele, who was in a similar situation to Maela’s, stated that his former teammate’s decision will be heavily influenced by maturity.
Jele recently told Sunday World: “Maturity will be key for Inno [Maela] in this situation because when someone gives you an offer and you happen to reject it, you end up regretting and blaming yourself.
“Vice versa, you decide to take the offer but end up blaming yourself for taking a certain offer while you had set goals to retire at a certain age.”
“I am aware that it is always difficult to deal with situations like this in your career. However, I would advise him to give this a lot of thought because, eventually, you have to acknowledge that there is life after football.”
Jele continued: “He must carefully consider his options and decide what is best for him. He should speak with the appropriate individuals, get their opinion, and proceed accordingly.
“In my opinion, however, he must choose a course of action that will ultimately bring him happiness.
Move to Royal AM
Jele spent 16 years with the Buccaneers before leaving in 2022. He was offered a non-playing position at the club after his contract was not extended for the new season.
Jele decided to turn down the offer to pursue his playing career elsewhere, and he eventually found a new home at Royal AM.
I still wanted to play and had a strong desire for football, so I don’t regret my choice. However, I informed the club upon my departure that if the offer was still available, I would gladly accept it, as Pirates feels like my second home after I left Mpumalanga at a young age,” Jele said.
Having made more than 200 appearances for Pirates and won two Nedbank Cups and four MTN8 titles, Maela will be remembered as one of the team’s most successful captains should he decide to retire.
Maela may play his final game for Pirates on Wednesday night when they host Magesi FC at Orlando Stadium to wrap up their league campaign.
