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Innocent Kurira and Raymond Jaravaza,Sports Writers
HE is definitely not coming to Highlanders Football Club, at least until the next window transfer period, but highly rated striker Obriel Chirinda was a major talking point at the club’s mid-year meeting yesterday.
The club’s mid-year general meeting, met to review the first six months of the year and map a way forward until the end of the year, was held at the Highlanders Clubhouse.
Club members met for over six hours where the chairman Johnfat Sibanda and interim treasurer Israel Moyo’s reports were presented.
The board chairman Luke Mnkandla also took to the podium and addressed members on a range of issues such as the setting up of a finance and internal audit committee.
Mnkandla also touched on the good behaviour exhibited by supporters at Barbourfields Stadium by desisting from unruly behaviour such as missile throwing and pitch invasions that hurt the club financially by way of fines imposed by the Premier Soccer League.
But one topic kept popping up from questions posed to the club executive by members as they wanted to know what went wrong with Bulawayo Chiefs’ Chirinda deal. The player was on coach Baltermar Brito’s radar and he made it very public that he wanted the player at all costs to bolster his attack.
Bosso has been potent in front of goal scoring 15 goals from 18 matches, conceding just four goals, testimony that the team’s strength is the defence marshaled by goalkeeper Ariel Sibanda and Peter Muduhwa.What exactly went wrong with the deal, members asked.
Club executive chairman Sibanda explained that the powers-that-be at Bosso wanted to satisfy Brito’s wish list but the sign-on fee and salary to bring the player on board was too high.
“We have a salary structure at Highlanders where players are paid according to seniority such as the captains at the top and so on. The coach wanted Chirinda, that is a fact, but we couldn’t not afford to unsettle that balance and structure by bringing in a player who was demanding a monthly salary that is more than our senior players.
“Brito was very angry when we did not sign the player and I must say he is still angry but we have a way of doing things at Highlanders, which we could not risk upsetting because of one player. His demands were just too much,” said Sibanda.
After the club failed to conclude a deal for Chirinda, Brito made his feelings known by expressing his disappointment through the media.
The coach blamed the executive for failure to acquire Chirinda.
Yesterday, Bosso chairman Sibanda revealed the club summoned the coach to a hearing and he has been reprimanded. The coach apologised at the meeting. With regards to the acquiring of Thabo Zikode Khumalo, Mnkandla explained events leading to him ending up at Highlanders.
“He was about to join a club in Harare. You will be shocked if l give you the name of the club. We could not let him go and shine elsewhere so we gave him a chance here where he belongs,” he said.
Turning to finances in the period covering the first six months of the year, interim treasurer Moyo indicated that the non-availability of stadiums in other parts of the country was turning into a financial blessing for Bosso.
“The club is spending less on travelling expenses as a number of clubs are playing their home matches at Barbourfields Stadium, which means the team is at home more frequently,” explained Moyo, who took over from Busani Mthombeni.
However, despite the financial spinoffs of Bosso traveling less, the pitch is suffering from overuse of the facility as explained by the executive at the meeting.
Highlanders CEO Ronald Moyo, vice chairman Fiso Siziba and committee member Mgcini Mafu missed the meeting as they accompanied Bosso 90 and the Highlanders Royals on a trip to Botswana.
The ladies and developmental sides are back in Bulawayo after taking part in a two-day tournament in the neighbouring country.
Online Reporter