The experiences that Congolese defender Liswa Nduti had gone through at Manning Rangers during his eight years at the club meant that it was no surprise that he finally left the club at the end of his contract in June 2004.
Nduti had enjoyed the beauty of winning the league in his first season (1996/97) playing in South Africa after arriving at the recommendation of those that had brought the late Emeka Mamale to Qwa-Qwa Stars.
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Winning the league meant CAF Champions League football the following year.
But beyond winning the league at Rangers were money-related issues, with his first salary having been around R2900 in his year and going up to about R6750 in his third year during the days when the rand had almost triple the value it now holds against the dollar.
Chico Lazarus and Kaycee Reddy – the two bosses at Rangers – got be to be known to Nduti, who played almost 200 games and scored 23 goals for the club.
In-between all of that was the name Orlando Pirates.
"Pirates wanted me from when Gordon Igesund went there [2000] and won the league," Nduti tells KickOff.com.
"Unfortunately, it was always a case of money with Rangers stepping up to what Pirates had promised =, meaning I had to stay since I still had a contract.
"I think Pirates also never offered Chicco the transfer money that would make him agree to let me go.
"That is the nature of the business.
"Pitso Mosimane wanted me on a free transfer at SuperSport United, but it couldn't happen.
"Before I went to Zulu Royals in 2004, Pirates were still keen, but the arrangements to go there didn't excite me.
"Pirates wanted to give me R25 000, which is the same money that Zulu Royals offered me in the First Division without having to relocate from Durban.
"I don't know how Mr (Sisa) Bikitsha (Zulu Royals chairman) got to know about that Pirates offer, but he told me that he can also give that salary plus signing-on fees [R150 000] in the First Division.
"That is why I then stayed.
"At Rangers, I had been on R18 000, and signing-on fees related issues.
"Zulu Royals were also paying winning bonuses that went up to as much R5000 for each player after we won four or five games in a row.
"Mike Makaab knows about this because moving from Durban to Johannesburg would have meant relocation logistics related to schools.
"Since it was the same offer, I decided that it is better I stay with them for two years and hopefully we can be promoted.
"However, I only played for a year before I left for Asia.
"Zulu Royals did pay me that R25 000 every month even though it would come on the 4th or 5th of the next month, which is normal in football.
"Lawrence Ngubane was the manager at the time, and we were told the issue was that players were using different banks.
"We had started well, but in the second round we then dropped on the standings because some of the players were now always complaining.
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"We had a great team, which also had Lelo Mbele, and Bikitsha even said this was a team that could compete in the PSL," says Nduti.
After Zulu Royals, he then left for India in 2005, then moved to Vietnam, before returning for brief stints at OR Tambo Cosmos and FC St-Eloi Lupopo with his career then ending after turning down Batau's proposal for a R10 000 salary during the 2009/10 season.