Why always Billiat?

For the umpteenth time, Khama Billiat is being scapegoated for Kaizer Chiefs’s woes in the DStv Premiership.

The Soweto giants last won the biggest club prize in South African football in April 2015, three years before Billiat joined them from Mamelodi Sundowns.

Sadly though, the frustration is always taken out on the Mufakose-raised winger.

The ever-demanding Amakhosi fans took microblogging site Twitter literally everyday to remind us that Billiat is the highest paid player at the club, when that was still the case.

Keegan Dolly is now the highest earning player at Naturena, but they whisper it, to the point that many don’t even know.

The South African media has at times even redefined the word legend, to accommodate sensationalized views of former players who are critical of Billiat.

One of them once caused an uproar in Mubvamaropa Street in Mufakose, the place Billiat grew up in, when he suggested that the nimble-footed winger was an age-cheat.

While it is true that Billiat has not replicated at Chiefs, the form which catapulted him to stardom at Sundowns, it is always true that he isn’t the only one, for a good reason probably.

Leonardo Castro arrived at Naturena from Mamelodi Sundowns in January 2018, having spent two and half sparkling seasons at Chloorkop.

Expectations were high when the Colombian arrived, considering what he had achieved at Sundowns. But he did not replicate his exploits at Masandawana, in the gold and black Chiefs shirt.

After he was released by Amakhosi this year,Castro openly said he regrets joining the club but was never lambasted for that.

If Billiat had been the one to have made those remarks, only God knows what could have happened.

Lebogang Manyama was a hotshot at Cape Town City. The forward won the Player of the Season in 2017 and deservedly earner a move to Turkish Super Lig side Konyaspor.

He arrived at Naturena in 2018 after a brief spell in Turkey.

For a player Cape Town City had refused to sell to a rival in South Africa, expectations were high when Manyama joined Chiefs.

But just like Castro, it was a case of high expectations and very little results and the former Bafana Bafana star was shown the exit door before the start of the current campaign.

Dolly, another former Sundowns star, arrived at Chiefs in July last year with a burden of expectations considering his reputation in South African football.

He is now the highest earning Chiefs player but has not had the best of starts to the season, scoring just one goal in four matches.

All the aforementioned players never got the criticism Billiat gets.

So why always Billiat?

 

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