Chronicle EditorSikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
“ALMOST all the players that they (coaches) wanted were contracted and the fact that on that particular aspect the coming on board of Sakunda did not make things easy for us because when you make an approach for a player, they think of Sakunda and think you have a lot of money.
“The players we approached, and we will not mention names to respect their clubs, asked for fees outside of this world.
“What they are expecting is out of this world and we had to live within our means.”
The above statement was said by the Highlanders acting chief executive officer Ronald Moyo during a press conference on Thursday.
He was justifying or trying to, the club’s failure to get the players that were targeted by coaches in order to turn around the club’s fortunes in the league.
Moyo says most of the players were contracted before concluding by telling the media that the club had to live within its means as the targeted players were asking for fees which were out of this world. Moyo is telling the gospel truth, Bosso has to live within its means lest it goes back to those painful past years of huge debts.
It’s also true that those players targeted were asking for huge sign on fees in the belief that the club was now ‘monied’ following the coming on board of energy giant Sakunda Holdings. Who would not do that really?
What however Moyo failed to admit is that the club has learnt a brutal, painful truth, a shocking reality that their gold mine in terms of players is right there before them. Its Juniors.
The failure to get those players they wanted ought to be a reality check that time was now that they took their juniors seriously. Highlanders has a converyor belt for players but it’s the system that is ignoring what is in that converyor belt.
Highlanders must only go out when they are bringing in a first eleven player, not someone who will be a bench warmer, it’s not acceptable. In the recent past, we saw the club bringing in a 19 year old boy who wasn’t a starter yet it has four junior age groups and couldn’t even promote one boy from all these age groups.
A boy promoted from the juniors is an investment and he also has no expenses to talk about since he will naturally be staying with his parents or guardians.
Promoting five boys from any one of the age groups would certainly not have cost more than US$6000 in signing on fees. Yes there was no football since 2020 but when the juniors were active, how many were promoted? None. When juniors are promoted, it comes with it many advantages.
It’s a motivator on its own for the boys and those not promoted would work extra hard to make sure they are included in the next slot.
When these youngsters do not see any value in playing for Highlanders, they will opt for other teams where they will be guaranteed promotion to the first team.
Players are promoted by coaches having taken into consideration what the club’s objectives are, short or long term objectives.
It will naturally be suicidal for coaches to promote five or so youngsters at one go at a time when the executive wants to land the championship.
When the executive does that, it must then be prepared to spend. When you pay peanuts you get monkeys, it’s as simple as that.
Highlanders must therefore not expect to get quality players when they don’t want to pay what those players demand. The executive must be clear to the coaches on what exactly it wants.
Of course before the season opener against Black Rhinos, club chairman Johnfat Sibanda issued a bold, confident and a little bit excitable statement that they were eyeing nothing other than the league title.
The question is did he provide Mandla Lulu Mpofu with the right weapons to win the war or he saw a well polished pistol and thought it was good enough to fight against an enemy carrying AK47s?
By virtue of that exciting but dangerous statement, Sibanda virtually closed the door for the coaches to promote juniors.
Perhaps he too was thinking along the same lines like the targeted players that since he had bagged Sakunda Holdings, he would now get any player that the coaches want.
Supporters are now up in arms, they are baying for coach Mpofu’s blood because their chairman promised them a league title and three games on, Bosso are eight points behind league leaders Manica Diamonds.
Yes, Moyo was and is right, the club must live within its means but that assertion must be bought by every member of the executive and board. The only way of living within its means, if they don’t want to invest in quality players as is obviously the case, is to massively invest in its juniors and make sure diamonds are produced, raw or polished it’s still the same.
If a club as big as Highlanders can fail to buy a player despite its massive financial backing, then something is wrong somewhere. It’s either someone wants the technical team to fail or they do not have proper negotiating skills.
Whatever assumptions could be, what is not an assumption is that this failure to bend down and drink when inside a pool of water, has been a sobering reality check for Highlanders that investing in juniors was and is not an option but a must.
Online Reporter