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Raymond Jaravaza
FROM zero to hero!
Barely 12 months ago unheralded Erol Akbay was suggested to take over the reins at Highlanders FC. The only appetiser to the deal was that Akbay was an expatriate from the Netherlands, however, with no traceable coaching reference.
Akbay even faced internal resistance when he took over from interim coaches Cosmas Zulu and Amini Soma-Phiri, the winners of the 2015 NetOne Easycall Cup.
The duo had replaced fired Bongani Mafu whose tenure is remembered for bringing grief and headaches to the Bosso faithful with a string of poor results that left the team dithering close to relegation that season.
Hiring an unknown Dutchman a�� a man with 45 friends on Facebook at the time as one newspaper put it a�� was obviously courting trouble with Highlanders members and supporters alike.
a�?Hiring Akbay was one of the most difficult decisions the executive has had to make over the years. It was a major risk which Ia��m happy to say has paid off.
a�?Remember Akbay was hired after Zulu and Phiri had just won the Easycall Cup and had suddenly become darlings of the supporters,a�? said chief executive officer Ndumiso Gumede.
Gumede narrated how he struggled to explain to the Highlanders family how the executive had opted to bypass interim coaches a�� Zulu and Phiri a�� over a man whose name they had never heard of before.
a�?I remember likening Zulu and Amini to stand-in bus drivers who had been asked to drive a broken down bus from point A to point B and not necessarily to its final destination.
a�?Our supporters had to understand that the interim coaches had been given the job to save the team after the Mafu era but they were never considered as the permanent solution to the teama��s problems,a�? he said.
Akbay has so far exceeded expectations as the executive had given him a top four finish in his first year in the City of Kings.
a�?He is a patient man who understands that our financial situation is not rosy but he said he simply wants to do his job,a�? he added.
Online Reporter