Chronicle Editor
Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
THE Highlanders executive has pleaded for good behaviour from their supporters at the stadium on Sunday.
Some disgruntled Bosso fans have been calling for coach Mandla Mpofu to be sacked and a WhatsApp message has been doing the rounds calling for a peaceful protest in the 70th minute of the game.
“On the 70th minute of our home (game) vs Dynamos, all Bosso fans are to peacefully leave the stadium to join the peaceful protest to take place outside the stadium,” the message reads.
It lists sacking the coach and reviving the junior policy as their top grievances.
“We have been patient with the coach and leadership of Highlanders, but we cannot continue like this.
A big club like Highlanders cannot be in the relegation zone by this time of the season and to make matters worse, the executive is folding its hands and not acting.
We have been patient with Mandla Mpofu; we lost the Chibuku (Super) Cup under his leadership and now we are languishing in the relegation zone under him.
“We have not won an away match in the league since 2018.
The executive has ignored our cries all this time and enough is enough.
Bosso is our club, if we don’t act, we will find ourselves in Division 1.
Bosso does not belong to the CEO, the chairman or the coach hence it is us the fans who can bring the change we want.
Our development team is also struggling in the First Division, recording only two wins so far.
Junior policy has been ignored; we have no promising young stars in the current senior team,” reads the message.
But Highlanders’ secretary-general Morgan ‘Gazza’ Dube denounced elements bent on tarnishing the club’s image through acts of violence at Barbourfields on match day.
“The Highlanders leadership would like to invite all its facets of fans to come in numbers with their families, friends and associates to support and encourage their team to complete a double within a month over our fiercest competitor in national football, Dynamos FC.
“This is a passionate plea to our fans to be hospitable to our visitors in hosting them in and outside the stadium and Bulawayo city in general.
Passion, respect and love is the cornerstone of our 96 years of existence and should be cherished and remembered this Sunday as we host Dynamos in our first-leg of the league season,” Dube wrote.
“We note with concern a few individuals purporting to be football fans inciting violence in the name of Highlanders, a practice clearly not synonymous with our culture.
This should be condemned with the contempt it deserves and we urge all Highlanders and the football fraternity to identify and eliminate such minds from near our club.
Dube also assured fans that the executive was concerned by the team’s poor form and was seized with finding an immediate lasting solution to the bad patch.
“We acknowledge the anxiety that this lean spell has caused to our members and fans and are equally concerned and want to promise you all that we are about to find and implement what we believe will heal us all and turn around the fortunes of this institution we call our heritage,” Dube said.
– @innocentskizoe
Online Reporter