‘There’s no relationship’, Hotto on feud with Lorch

Orlando Pirates defender Deon Hotto has opened up about the feud between him and his former teammate Thembinkosi Lorch, who has since left the Buccaneers to join Mamelodi Sundowns.

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The quarrel between Hotto and Lorch was revealed by Paseka Mako during the documentary that was produced by Pirates called “The Change Room.”

In the documentary, Mako said there was an element of jealousy in the Pirates camp towards Hotto. The defender also revealed that at some stage, Hotto and Lorch were not greeting each other.

Speaking to the media at Orlando Stadium this week, Hotto said there was no relationship between him and Lorch, but added that he was still willing to mend ways between him and the Sundowns midfielder.

“No, there’s no relationship because he’s not here anymore and actually, I had to settle this with him but it was during time the league was finishing. So, I went to the national team for AFCON, and while I was still on that side I just heard that he also left. So, we haven’t actually met or sat down,” Hotto said.

It is believed that the Pirates players’ jealousy arose from the constant selection of Hotto, with the Namibian player being selected in different positions by coach Jose Riveiro last season.

Hotto sees nothing wrong with Riveiro’s decision, saying he will always give out his best whenever given a chance by the Spanish coach, regardless of the position he plays in.

“It’s not about one of your best players, it’s all about what you do at training because for me to play in this role now I had to sit down with the coach. Sometimes people don’t understand, when I played position number three, Mako went for surgery, [Innocent] Maela was out for surgery so who was gonna play there now? Are we gonna play Patrick [Maswanganyi] there or Rele [Relebohile Mofokeng] there? I don’t think so because their defending qualities are not that good,” said Hotto.

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“So, the coach had to look into me and play me there, so I told him, ‘okay coach I will try my level best’ and yeah I played, I did well in some games, but in others, I didn’t play well because it’s not my position. Maela is back now, if the coach asked me to play as a striker, I will tell him, ‘coach, I will do my level best’.”