A good 25 years have passed since Ricardo Mannetti touched down in England for trials at Sheffield after impressing during his first season at Santos.
Mannetti came through to Santos from back home in Namibia when the People’s Team played their first season in the top league (1997/98) after gaining promotion from the first division.
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In his first year, Mannetti was impressive with 30 appearances and two goals justifying why he had been a teenage superstar back home.
"I played in the Namibian Premier League debut aged 15 and got my first cap in the senior national team at 17 still at school," says Mannetti in looking at his career.
"Unfortunately, here in Namibia, instead of earning, my parents had to pay for me to play football because when the team had to travel you had to contribute to the fuel and buy food.
"There was no payment, nothing at all, and we would sleep on mattresses at some’s garage while the car was parked outside for the night ahead of our game the next day.
"The first time I earned a football salary was when I joined Santos but had a day job as a customer service agent while in Namibia.
"It was difficult for me to know what to negotiate for at Santos, so I just chose to double what I was earning in my day job back home, and it worked out.
"The club provided accommodation, so the salary was just mine and that was it," says Mannetti who was recruited with the influence of Duncan Crowie.
For all the minutes he got on the field along with the touch adjustments he had to make to playing in the rain and cold, Mannetti left his mark having already long established himself in the Namibian national team.
After that first year, an opportunity at then Championship club Sheffield United came up.
"I went for trials at Sheffield United because I needed this move.
"Next thing Sheffield and Santos didn’t agree on terms, and I was so disappointed that I then decided not to go back to Santos.
"From England, I went straight back home to Namibia instead of Cape Town.
"That was very wrong of me because I was contracted.
"I was foolish and stubborn as a young boy and thought since they stood in my way of getting to sign in England then I will not go back to Santos.
"I then spent the next year without a salary because I was back home in Windhoek.
"I was upset about what had happened with Santos standing in my way of getting a contract in England and so I wasn’t being paid for that year.
"My mind was made up on that I will retire from football and get a day job to sustain myself.
"I was stubborn, emotional, and angry but it became one of the toughest years in my career because Santos were right in not paying me since I wasn’t back with them.
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"Johnny Ferreira called me to Avondale Atletico in the first division after which the late Clive Barker convinced me to make up with Santos.
"I then went back to Santos where I immediately won the league (2001/02)," says Mannetti, who is now running the affairs of Namibian Premier League club FC Ongo’s.
