The man with the golden boots – Delron Buckley

Club
: Borussia Dortmund
Height : 1.77m
Weight : 75kg
Nationality : South African
Born
: 7th of December 1977
Place
: Durban (Butcher Rd, Sydenham to be exact)
Career
: 00-01 – FC Bochum – 2 goals, 19 games
02-03 – FC Bochum – 3 goals, 30 games
03-04 – FC Bochum – 20 games
04-05 – Arminia Bielefeld – 15 goals, 29 games
05-06 – Borussia Dortmund –

Delron
has really upped his game since his move to Arminia Bielefeld and he
attributes this to the birth of his daughter. His move to Dortmund is
huge and we wish him all the best. We will be following Delron’s
progress closely and keeping you informed in this regard. We hope that
the rich run of form that he enjoyed at Arminia continues at Dortmund,
a truly huge German club.

A really close friend of
Delron’s who also played professional soccer in South Africa before
departing to the US, had the following to say about the young man’s
career.

If the Indian Ocean were ink and every case
of empties a case of feathers; I still don’t think I could cover the
glimpses of pure genius that I’ve witnessed from Delron Buckley on a
football pitch – at an amateur level. The cringes and two-word phrases
of “O shhh…!!!” sum up many of his eye-popping performances. My
admiration ended prematurely when he decided to leave Meadow Secondary
School and head ‘over the big water’ to seek greener pastures.

Before Gordon Igesund became “D” Gordon Igesund of South Africa he
knew of Delron Buckley. Gordon was aware of the talent that grazed the
Meadows of Sparks Estate. He was already working with another promising
alumnus in Clint Groom.

Groomy carried a magical
left foot as well, one that would make Sean Dundee (in the 2nd
division) look like Alan Shearer – to the extent that it would
eventually fool Liverpool into signing him! En route to Anfield, Dundee
would make his stop over in Germany – via Gordon Igesund.

When
Gordon came by to see Delron, he drooled at the idea of one day
coaching him. But the $$$ signs were evident every time Delron took the
field. Gordon weighed his options and asked himself the question:
Success for the slum-ous at Callies or personal KaChing? Answer: My
personal Bling! Bling!

Gordon
made a couple of calls to one of his ex team-mates, someone he used to
play with in Europe. Soon Delron was off to Bochum. He would come face
to face with a new culture and language, and most agonizingly, a
different style of football. For Delron to leave home just past
adolescence to pursue his dream was an enormous and brave decision. It
must have been hard coming from the comfort of schweeet Sydenham, where
everything (I mean everything) was at your fingertips. But as they say,
the greater the sacrifice, the greater the rewards.

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Today
Delron is a member of one of the most prestigious clubs in German
history. When I heard of the news back in April, I immediately thought
“D Day has come: Dortmund Day…and most importantly, Delron’s Day.”

This
move was the icing on the cake for Delron. Very few, if any, come any
better than Borussia Dortmund. A clause found in Delron’s contract by
Dortmund, was like finding a case of J&B under the Christmas tree.
The clause read that if an offer came in at $500,000 (425 000 euros) or
more, then Arminia Bielefeld would have no option but to allow the
player to have open talks with the bidding team. Although Dortmund have
been going through some financial problems over the past year, to me,
425,000 euros for a left-footed, 15-goal Bundesliga, motherland
Bruinou – supposedly at his peak – is a bargain. Dortmund pays more
than that a year to keep the grass green. Delron’s asking price could
have been well over a million euros. I just hope he and his agent took
advantage of the clause and cashed in. My calculations say that he
should be making a minimum of $35,000 a week.

Now
here’s my take on Delron as a professional player. To be honest, I
don’t think Delron has reached his full potential. Football players
peak between 25 and 28 years of age. Delron is 27. Yet despite his 15
goals last season I don’t think Delron has come close to what he is
capable of doing on a football pitch. There could be many reasons why;
one that comes to mind is that Delron is not a striker. The way he is
being used as a player is a waste of good talent. Growing up he was
dubbed “Giggs”. I think he was, and is, more skilful than Ryan Giggs.
But Giggs is more effective on a football pitch because of his
penetrating runs.

Today Delron or his coaches should be
watching Ryan Giggs tapes and taking note of Damien Duff and Robben of
Chelsea, to name a few. They should be figuring out a way to utilize
and maximize his strengths in tormenting the opposition and creating
scoring chances each time he gets possession.

This
is what Klaus Toppmoller, a previous coach of Delron, said about him:
“Delron Buckley could play like Maradona one day, and be completely
ineffective the next.” I’ve witnessed this first hand. But the mere
fact that he could play like Maradona (meaning that he could change the
outcome of the game just by breathing) is frightening. The latter
part of Toppmoller’s comment is a bit more complicated. Not everyone is
a leader; Delron is not. So if a team is up and down, then Delron will
be up and down. The reason he was unsuccessful (by his own standards)
at Bochum was due to the fact that the team wasn’t built to accommodate
his style of play. Also, the quality in that squad was awful. Two
relegations and two promotions with Bochum is the perfect definition of
“up and down.”

Promoted
to division one, Arminia Bielefeld would provide Delron with a
lifeline. I don’t think he had second thoughts about this one. A fresh
start with players decent enough to put 3-5 passes together. Add a
newborn baby girl to the equation and things are looking good. The
coach guaranteed him first team football – one he never had at Bochum.
(I was always bothered by the fact that European players couldn’t even
make the bench for their respective clubs, but still found a way onto
the Bafana team – the following week.) Amazing what SAFA can do.

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When
the news came that Delron had accepted the move to Dortmund, I was
puzzled. I knew that Jan Koller and Henrique Ewerthon were the starting
strikers. Besides the glamour and $$s, why would Delron – after such a
good season – want to sit on the bench? But then two months later
(June), Ewerthon was sold to Zaragoza in La Liga. The coach probably
sensed it coming and began shopping early. His timing was perfect
because Delron had been out of the media spotlight (he picked up a red
card against Bayern Munich in a cup game for “pushing” the ref, and was
suspended for the remainder of the season: six games) Therefore, the
negotiations between him and Dortmund were kept on the down low until
he agreed to join them.

Ewerthon
is a great loss to Dortmound and I think Delron would have enjoyed
playing with him because of his ‘Brazilian’ style. But this sale is
good for Delron and puts him closer to the starting eleven.

In
his first preseason game for Dortmund a couple weeks ago, against an
amateur team, Delron got off to a flying start by scoring 15 seconds
into the game. If he can get 12 goals a season with about 8-10 assists
– then he is golden. He is now playing with much better players and
should therefore see a number of goal-scoring opportunities per game.

We
never know with football, but Dortmund could be the final club for
Delron (unless he returns to Mandene or Butcherville Rovers.) By
turning down a move to England he showed that he is settled in Germany
(with a German wife) and has no reason to leave his adopted country.
For his sake and the rest of the motherland I hope he can play in his
third world cup – on the soil of a country that has given him so much.
For him to do so he needs to step up and win his next two qualifying
games. If he wants to, like Maradona, all he needs to do is breathe.

*Ed – please send your questions or comments to lester@Bruinou.com and we will pass these on to the author for feedback.