Former Real Tamale united and King Faisal midfielder, Gilbert Ayikade, has disclosed how difficult life has been and how he has struggled to make earns meet after hanging his boots.
According to him, the money earned by footballers back in the day were nothing to write home about, describing it as ‘hand to mouth’.
The former RTU and King Faisal player, in an interview on Happy FM’s Where, Are They program, disclosed that he couldn’t save much because the monies he earned were nothing to write home about has struggled to take care of his family.
“It has been very difficult to live without doing anything. We thought maybe after football, things would have gone differently but it didn’t go that way but we are facing it. Looking at where we started, there wasn’t anything we could write home about, it was just hand-to-mouth.
“We couldn’t save much because what we earned was nothing to write home about,” he told the host of Happy Sports, Ohene Bampoe Brenya.
Gilbert AyIikade further went on to advise young footballers to make good use of the platform they have been given and be determined to make it to the top.
“I will be glad to tell them that, the platform they are experiencing now, has been very favorable, they just need a little bit of push. what we experienced back in the day isn’t the same now so they just need to be determined and push hard,” he ended.
Gilbert Ayikade represented the Black Meteors and was named in Ghana’s 22-man squad to face Nigeria in a crucial All-Africa Games final-round qualifier for the only Zone III spot for the 2008 All-African Games competition.
By Judeliver Eli Ahashie
