Teko Modise talks about living in the fast lane

Teko Modise has revealed he blew R22,000 a month on an Aston Martin DB9 - and the car caused only problems for the Orlando Pirates player.

Speaking at the launch of a book about his life, Modise said buying the car was a mistake.

"It was a bad move. I was paying R22,000 a month for the car.

"I was bored after the World Cup and didn't know what to do, so I went to buy the Aston Martin.

"My friends agreed because I was buying food and stuff.

"There was an advert that there was an Aston Martin for sale. I went to buy it."

The book, The Curse of Teko Modise, by Nikolaos Kirkinis, asserts that when current Cape Town City player Modise's relationship with Pirates soured because of blocked moves overseas and the player turning to drink, he aggravated the situation by driving the R2-million car to training sessions.

"The relationship between Teko and the club was already difficult at this stage," it says in the book, "and the sight and sound of a DB9 rolling into the parking lot with Teko inside was guaranteed to ruffle feathers.

"It wasn't long before he was called into the head office. 'You can't drive that car to training,' the officials told him. 'The other players will see that and think we are paying you too much; it won't be long before they all come around demanding higher salaries'.

"He had been training behind the goalposts for about a year-and-a-half.

"That meant he was running less than all the other players, he was less fit and less motivated.

"After all this, he thought to himself: 'I'm on the sidelines watching my career pass me by, so I'm going to do whatever I want.

"In defiance of instructions, he started driving the Aston Martin to training again."

Later the book describes how a team doctor at Mamelodi Sundowns convinced him to downgrade his lifestyle and how that had an influence on his revival.

Modise's agent Jazzman Mahlakgane, is also credited with having repeatedly curbed the player's high living.