“There is no doubt that they’re talented youngsters, but they need proper guidance. I’ve been a player at the highest level (played for West Ham United in England) and I know what players go through. Some of the agents mislead players because they’re only interested in their monies not their future. Clubs and agents need to put safety mechanisms in place in order to protect talented youngsters,” said Butler.
Ahead of the home clash against Tunisia in the AFCON qualifiers on November 14, Butler said he is ready to sit down with Ngele and sort out their differences. He said it is important for Ngele to play for the Zebras since he is not starting at his South African side, Platinum Stars. “I want to have a man to man chat with Tsotso, so I’ll invite him to the next camp (on November 9). That will depend on if he is interested because I don’t know what he is thinking,” the Briton said.
It is alleged that Ngele left the camp in frustration after he was not impressed at the way he was treated by the technical team. This was after he was substituted in the 2-0 home loss to Egypt. According to Butler, Nato will only be welcomed to the Zebras camp only as soon as he has apologized for reporting for training drunk. The Englishman said that Nato reported for the morning training session on October 7 in an unsatisfactory state. “I never lie and there is no need of doing so about youngsters like Nato. He came to training drunk and I asked him to go have a rest and report for training session in the afternoon. He never showed up because he claimed that his agent told him that he’s been suspended. How can a player be suspended without getting a letter,” he said.
Butler showed this publication some messages where he tried to convince Nato to come to camp but the player declined because he said he has already been notified about his suspension. “He (Nato) has never been suspended. If he continues behaving like this (engaging in alcohol abuse ahead of big games) he is in danger of ruining his career. He has a bright future but he must know how to behave. Even the people in India have phoned me about the allegations and I told them the truth. There is no need to lie here. The thing is I’ll never accommodate alcohol and friends into camp,” Butler continued. On their preparations for the two group matches against Tunisia (November 14 at the National Stadium in Gaborone) and Senegal (November 19 in Dakar), Butler said their intention is to go out there and compete. He said it is important to give their best effort and end the qualifiers with something to write home about.
The Zebras have failed to earn a single point in the four matches they have played so far.
“There is no doubt that we’re going to have a tough time against Tunisia and Senegal. Our intention is to compete but knowing the quality of both sides, we might not achieve our dreams. Both sides are under pressure to deliver and qualify for Afcon. There is no doubt that they have better players than us,” he said. He appealed to Batswana to come in large numbers when they host the Carthage Eagles despite the fact that they have not managed to live up to the expectations. “We need their support, the problem is that sometimes people are not realistic.
There was no way we could have gotten out of this group looking at our opponents. We’re building for the future and that’s what we need to be focusing on. The problem in this country is that some people have PHD (pull him down) syndrome,” lamented Butler.
