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Patrick Chitumba and Ricky Zililo
TELONE FC has appointed Jairos Tapera as head coach ahead of the club’s maiden Castle Lager Premier Soccer League sojourn that starts on Saturday.
Club president Lloyd Mutetwa yesterday put to rest speculation over who will lead the WiFi Boys into the 2019 season.
“TelOne Football Club is delighted to announce the appointment of Jairos Tapera as head coach. He joins TelOne FC with vast experience after having coached a number of Premier Soccer League Clubs such as Black Rhinos, Hwange and FC Platinum,” said Mutetwa.
“TelOne FC would like to congratulate Jairos Tapera on his appointment and wish him the best. With this appointment, Joel Lupahla, who was the head coach last season, will assume the role of technical manager.”
In addition to coaching a number of local topflight sides, Tapera was in charge of the national Under-20 team that finished as runners-up in the 2014 Cosafa Under-20 tournament.
He also coached South African side Black Leopards during the 2015/2016 season.
Tapera said the new boys will stage a good fight in their debut season, despite joining the club in the 11th hour.
TelOne take on Herentals in their opening match on Saturday and Tapera said Luphahla had made the job “easy” for him by leading the team’s pre-season programme.
“Everything has been made easy for me. The team had been with Luphahla, who I’m confident has done well to assemble a competitive side. I am like a bus driver coming on to drive people that are ready for the journey and listen to good music,” said Tapera.
“Of course, I might not have been part of the team’s pre-season programme, but I have great confidence in the work done by the technical team. What’s important for us to survive is to have a balanced team, work together with everyone involved at the club from players, technical team, management and supporter.”
Luphahla, who led the team into the Prmiership, had made an impassioned plea to Zifa to look beyond just the Caf A coaching licence.
The former national team winger doesn’t have the required Caf A licence to coach in the PSL.
“I have done a lot for football in Zimbabwe. I started this journey when I was just 18 years old, now I am 42. My whole life has been about serving this country in football circles from club level up to national team level. I played for the Warriors; something that many players did not manage until the end of their playing career and that deserves to be respected. At the end of the day, the requirement is just a paper and I hope our local game will not be reduced to just a paper. Football goes beyond that,” Luphahla said in his plea in the hope of keeping the job.
Online Reporter