Defender Paseka Mako has revealed shocking news that Thembinkosi Lorch and Deon Hotto clashed at the Soweto giants before fan-favourite Lorch left to join rivals Mamelodi Sundowns.
Lorch’s bombshell move came as a surprise with many fans expecting the attacker to retire at Orlando Pirates.
Adding to the drama, Pirates defender Paseka Mako revealed on the Pirates show “Change Room” that there had been a conflict between Lorch and another player, Deon Hotto.
Mako suggested that jealousy might have been the root cause of the tension between the two players.
This revelation added a layer of intrigue to Lorch’s departure, raising questions about the internal dynamics within the team and how they may have influenced the transfer decision.
“The incident between Lorch and Hotto, I could say it really affected the team I will explain it as I witnessed it,” Mako said on the Change Room.
“Some people didn’t get along with Hotto, I won’t name anyone. And we are supposed to be a team.
“When we’re on the field, they don’t pass to each other, they harshly tackle one another.
“It was a major issue that affected the team. They didn’t greet each other.
“In my point of view the guy number 3 (Lorch) because maybe he was always getting injured and Hotto was scoring.
“I could say it’s jealousy in my view the way I saw it because there were others who got involved.
“And some of them are still on the team but I won’t mention exactly who did and said what. But it was very deep.”
The Namibian international also reveals that some of his teammates were complaining because he was always selected to play every time which may have fuelled the conflict at the club.
“The coach was playing me in different positions and for me, I wasn’t selecting myself to be in the team,” Hotto said.
“If the coach asks me to play as a centre-back, I will ask him, why am I playing as a centre-back today coach is there a problem?
“Then he will say no Xoki is not feeling well today, so we need you there. Then I say all right I will try my level best I will play.
“So, the conflict came there when the coach was playing me as a striker, right-wing, left-back and left-wing.
“So, I heard among the guys that the guys are complaining, why Hotto is not getting substituted?
“Why Hotto is playing all the games? Everything actually when I came was going my way.
“I was scoring, assisting I was doing everything. So, most of the stuff started there.”
The 33-year-old player went on to further reveal that the tension caused a division in the team to the extent that there were groups among the players.
“After that, there were groups now. So, in the groups obviously, there will be one person who is close to me.
“Who is going to tell me what the guys are saying in their group. It all started there (Hotto is playing all the games he is not getting substituted).
“And I remember I went to the coach and told him no coach, I’m not playing this game it’s fine because the coach knew and he heard also about what was happening around us.
“So, I told him no, if it’s 60-something minutes and we are leading, please take me out so the guys can feel okay.
“Because now you are not taking me out, and they are feeling that I’m here maybe to steal the show, but I didn’t come here to say I’m bigger than you, I came here to work and that’s it.
“So, it was that moment where they felt they were getting left behind because this player just came.
“Now everyone is just talking about him, now people are not talking about them, and that is where a lot of things came.
“That is where the conflict came in,” he concluded.
