Bernard Parker has revealed there was never any firm talk between him and his former club Kaizer Chiefs of taking up any post-playing position at the club after his contract expired at the end of last season.
Image: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images
Veteran forward Parker, who spent 11 years at Chiefs, joined TS Galaxy last week. This was after he spent two months of the off-season training on his own and later with SuperSport United, having been released by Amakhosi.
“I don’t know who came up with that talk,” the 36-year-old said at Galaxy’s training ground at St Stithians College in Sandton, Johannesburg, on Wednesday.
“I really don’t know because I wasn’t told about that. I did ask what’s happening and the way forward.
“I wasn’t told anything and things just went quiet, hence I decided to sit down with my family to look at the best way forward.”
The former Bafana Bafana striker nearly found a path to joining his former Chiefs coach Gavin Hunt at SuperSport.
“I was training alone for quite some time and I was hoping for something,” Parker said.
“Coach Gavin knows me well from our time at Chiefs and he said to me, ‘No, man, rather you train with the team [SuperSport] because we‘ve got a young and exciting team here and come and inspire the boys.’
“I didn’t even ask anything else, I just said, ‘What time should I come to training tomorrow?’ I came in and trained and they were very impressed. The technical staff believed I could add value and they took it up higher.
“The league started and things went on and on and I decided to go with the option to come to ‘the Rockets’ [Galaxy] because me and the chairman [Tim Sukazi] have got a bit of a relationship since [Dutch club] FC Twente.
“He [then-agent Sukazi] came to visit me at Twente when he brought ‘Tower’ [defender Eric Mathoho] on trial in 2009. From there we had a good relationship.
“He called me and said he wanted me to be part of the family. I accepted it, I took on his blessing.”
Parker joins Galaxy, who have started the season on an excellent note, drawing their first DStv Premiership match 0-0 against Stellenbosch before winning their next two games against five-time successive league champions Mamelodi Sundowns (1-0) and SuperSport (2-0).
Galaxy visit Lamontville Golden Arrows at the Princess Magogo Stadium in KwaMashu, Durban, on Saturday.
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