Online Reporter
Lovemore Dube – Zimpapers Sports Hub
HIGHLANDERS, the club that once ruled Zimbabwean football, are on the verge of a major shake-up as financial cracks widen ahead of their 100th year anniversary.
Bosso are drowning in debt, struggling to survive on the field and now facing a massive player purge that could change the club forever.
The Bulawayo giants head into their final match of the season against Chicken Inn on November 23 still unsure of their Premier Soccer League survival.
For a club turning a century old next year, the situation could not be more desperate.
The numbers tell a painful story.
Highlanders have a staggering 42 contracted players, including those from the feeder side Bosso 90, yet very few have delivered any real value.
The wage bill stands at around US$71,000, while sponsors only cover about US$41,000, leaving a shortfall that’s bleeding the club dry.
Gate takings that once kept Bosso afloat can’t carry the load anymore.
Matchday expenses swallow nearly everything, and recruitment has been reduced to picking up free agents instead of chasing top talent.
“The board has realised there’s just no quality in this squad,” said a club insider.
“Even De Jongh’s mid-season signings couldn’t save the team.
“If Kaindu failed, so did Ncube and De Jongh, they all tried to make orange juice out of lemons.”
It’s been a season of pain.
The senior team flirted with relegation, Bosso 90 escaped the drop only because Ajax Hotspurs collapsed, and even the women’s team, Highlanders Royals, spent the year fighting for their lives.
The decline is visible everywhere.
Bosso’s junior system, once the heartbeat of Zimbabwean football, is barely producing players. In the ‘80s and ‘90s, Highlanders filled the Young Warriors squads, now, it’s a shock to see a single Bosso junior in national colours.
Supporters say the club’s problems go deeper than poor results.
“The soul of Bosso is being lost,” one fan said. “We used to breed stars; now we just sign anyone who’s free.”
As the team prepare for their final fixture, the board is scrambling to slash numbers and cut the wage bill, but the plan comes with a new headache, there’s no money to pay off the players they want to release.
Highlanders chief executive, Denzil Mnkandla, said he would only comment after consulting management, before later confirming the issue had been handed over to chairman Luke Mnkandla.
Repeated calls and messages to the chairman went unanswered.
For Bosso, turning 100 should be a celebration. Instead, it’s shaping up to be a reckoning, a century marked not by glory, but by a desperate fight for survival.
