In Retirement… Kelvin 'Mushy' Mushambi

 In Retirement… Kelvin 'Mushy' Mushambi 


Name: Kelvin 'Mushy' Mushambi 
Position: Midfielder/Striker but all-rounder. 


Played for? Zimbabwe Premier Lge; Caps Utd, Jets and Sporting Lions.

UK; Hucknall Town, Arnold T, Eastwood T, Carlton T, Gedling M, Long Eaton, Sth Normanton, Belper T, Kidsgrove, Dunkirk, Greenwood 

Team supported growing up? Manchester United

Childhood hero & why? Bryan Robson, cool, calm and intelligent. 

Biggest influence? My brother Paul, set the path for me to follow. 

Favourite current player & why? Modric, ageless and makes difficult things seem quite easy. 

Best ground you’ve played at? Zimbabwe National Sports Stadium and in UK Derby's Pride Park Stadium. 

Best friend in football?  Not particularly as I've hundreds of players I really got on with but would say Freddie who I played with in Zim as well as briefly here in UK. 

Best player you’ve played against & why?  I played against a lot of great players and honestly, he wasn’t near my best but this guy was the toughest opponent I faced, always made my life hell on the pitch, Jamie Spiers. 

Footballing Night out You & 4 others. Who’s getting an invite? Easy, Long Eaton lads, Ross, Jared, Dean n Paolo. Could never beat that, Ross was just on another planet. 

The best player you’ve played with in each position & why?

Goalkeeper - Eastwood Ian Deakin, imposing and the confidence he had was complimented with how good he actually was (special mention Danny Bryant) 

Defender - Hucknall Craig Gaunt, he was just a Rolls Royce, intelligent, good on the ball, could defend and cool dude too. 

Midfielder - Might surprise many but I mention him coz he never fulfilled his talent and didn't actually know how good he was, Blaine Hancock at Long Eaton. Natural talent but not serious lol. 

Striker - Striker Wael Naz Nazha, deadly striker, power, skill, touch with sweet left foot. 

Best moment of your career? The first competitive match I played alongside my son Takunda TK 

Kelvin’s last game with son TK & local legend Malc Storer


Best/favourite manager you played under?Good relationship with most of the Managers I played under but I had a soft spot for the late Ernie Moss when I was at Belper. Glyn Stacey at both South N and Long Eaton is very much in this too. 

Best goal you scored? Notts Senior Cup Semi Final at Eastwood. I have to explain this. I had just come back from injury and asked to come on last 4 min. I initially refused coz i thought the Manager should have put me on earlier. When I came on 1st touch, miscontrol , 2nd touch lose possession and corner kick against us at 2-1. From the resulting corner kick, ball played to me in our half, sold a dummy to the 2 markers n as I was in the opposition part of the centre circle, I saw the keeper off his line and I volleyed the ball into the roof of the net. 

Is there anything you would go back and tell your playing self? Born in the wrong country, in football terms, but you did great.


Thank you, Kelvin for taking time to answer my questions looking back on your fantastic footballing career. All the best for whatever you do going forward.

If you are a retired player reading this or somebody involved in football and you would like to feature in a future blog. Please message me on twitter. I would love to get you involved 

Until the next one, 

Peace, 

Luke@PL2NL