‘Come on CAPS United!’

played at the National Sports Stadium after CAPS United successfully negotiated with the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing to be given a special dispensation to use the giant facility this Sunday while work continues to improve its playing surface.
CAPS United are yet to win since leaving the giant stadium and playing their home matches at Rufaro and Gwanzura.
Connor, who was in charge of the Green Machine in the last edition of the Harare Derby at Rufaro, flew out of the capital yesterday in the company of his son Noah, who is set to use the few remaining days of his summer holidays to prepare for a return to school in Northern Ireland.
Although Connor was dismissed from his job as CAPS United coach, exactly a week after losing the Harare Derby and there are still some contractual issues to be sorted out, he retains a very soft spot for the team that gave him his first coaching job in Africa.
Connor’s management team have repeatedly said they are unhappy with the way their client was dismissed from his job but, it appears, the Northern Irishman doesn’t harbour any ill-feelings towards his former employers.
CAPS United provided Connor with the air tickets and allowances for his trip home, despite suggestions that their relationship had irretrievably broken down, following the coach’s dismissal after a run of four losses on the trot and no win in half-a-dozen games.
And, shortly before he left, the Northern Irishman rallied CAPS United to conjure one grand moment of magic, by writing a success story in their latest Harare Derby showdown against bitter rivals Dynamos on Sunday.
“Good luck on Sunday and you can pass that on to the players,” Connor said in a text message to CAPS United vice-president, Farai Jere, sent just before he boarded his plane out of Harare to Johannesburg en-route to Northern Ireland.
“Noah had a great time here and loved going to the games. This will ensure he has only good memories about Zimbabwe.
“He still does not understand why I do not go to training.”
Jere, who spoke to Connor just before he left, said the Northern Irishman was largely disappointed that their marriage did not go according to plan but wished CAPS United well.
“Sean is obviously disappointed that we were not as successful as we would have wanted but he understands where we want to take this team,” said Jere.
“We have a vision and all we want is greatness and it’s unfortunate that things haven’t gone according to plan but we remain committed to our vision and we make decisions guided by that vision.”
The CAPS United vice-president also revealed that negotiations were underway between his club and South African giants, Mamelodi Sundowns, for striker Simba Sithole to make a possible return to the Green Machine.
Sithole was leading the domestic goal-scoring charts when he was snapped away by Sundowns last year, with the Pretoria club expecting him to make as big an impact in Super Diski as Knowledge Musona, but he has struggled to make a breakthrough.
The young striker has spent the past year in the cold in South Africa and attempts by Sundowns to loan him to other clubs in that country, as part of a grand scheme to develop him, have all failed so far.
Jere said there was a possibility that Sithole could return to play for CAPS United but that depended on the player, who has four years left on his five-year contract, agreeing to the deal.
“Kenneth Makhanya (Sundowns’ General Manager) has been in touch with me and he has indicated that they might be considering letting Simba return to CAPS United,” said Jere.
“We haven’t spoken to the player to see what is his reaction to that and I know that we are also supposed to pay a certain fee for him to return and we are in agreement with Sundowns in as far as the figures are concerned.
“But it all boils down to the player and he has to agree to the deal because he has a contract with Sundowns but, as far as CAPS United are concerned, we are ready to take him back into the fold because we didn’t want to lose him in the first place.
“Simba might have been playing for us last year but what people don’t understand is that he didn’t belong to us because his rights belonged to his management team who made decisions on what they believed was the best for their player.
“We have a good relationship with Sundowns and if they can sort the contractual issues and the player is in agreement, we will be the first to ensure that Simba returns because we feel he can make a difference to our team at a time when we have been struggling to get goals.”
A number of seasoned analysts felt that Sithole was still very raw when he moved to Super Diski, after barely six months leading the CAPS United attack, and felt he would have immensely benefited from a longer stay in the trenches of domestic football.
Sithole scored 10 goals in 11 league games for CAPS United last year, after a storming start to his life at the Green Machine, and it is a measure of how well he performed that the eventual winner of the Golden Boot, Rodreck Mutuma, only scored four goals more.
The striking contrast was that while Mutuma played the entire season for DeMbare, Sithole only played 11 games for CAPS United to get his 10 goals.
Jere said they still had one open slot that needed to be filled on their PSL registration squad list, leaving the door open for Sithole’s possible return to play for the Green Machine this season.
For that to happen, Sithole will have to become a free agent, with Sundowns terminating his contract, as that would free him to come and join CAPS United even though the domestic transfer window had been closed.