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much-anticipated contract talks between the executive and the gaffer failed to yield immediate results yesterday.
The Dynamos management, led by chairman Kenny Mubaiwa, met Pasuwa for a marathon meeting over the employment status of the coach but both parties emerged from the indaba to declare a deadlock.
Mubaiwa was flanked by club secretary-general Nyika Chifamba, treasurer Webster Chikengezha and committee member Simon Sachiti.
Pasuwa’s lieutenants, assistant coach Tonderai Ndiraya and goalkeepers’ coach Tichaona Diya, were also on hand around the meeting venue but their contract talks have been deferred until the club reaches an agreement with their boss.
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There had been indications that the executive and their head coach would thrash out a deal that would end up with Pasuwa inking a three-year contract to guide the Harare giants, who will be chasing glory in the Champions League and on the domestic front next year.
But Chifamba emerged from the indaba to reveal that negotiations between the two parties were “still ongoing” but the Dynamos official remained optimistic that an agreement will be struck by today or, at least, before the end of the week.
Chifamba declined to say much on what had stalled progress during yesterday’s indaba although The Herald has it on good authority that the deadlock is mainly centred on the coach’s salary, some of his perks and some clauses which Pasuwa strongly feels would safeguard his interests.
“All I can say is that we met with the coach and we discussed the issue of his contract.
“We have asked him to look at our offer but there are areas that we would want to agree on and he needs a bit of time to decide on that.
“We believe that once we agree with the coach, the rest will fall into place because we will use the rate to determine the packages of his assistants,” Chifamba said.
The Dynamos secretary, however, noted that they were racing against time to resolve the status of the man who will be in charge of the Glamour Boys campaign but insisted they had not yet reached panic levels.
“We don’t have much time on our side and we need to prepare for next season. If I had not yet travelled (to Zambia) I am sure by now we should have been through with this matter but nevertheless we hope to conclude this as soon as possible and I am sure by the end of the day tomorrow we should have found common ground and secured a deal,” Chifamba said.
Chifamba maintained that their decision to defer contract talks with the likes of team manager Richard Chihoro, Ndiraya and Diya did not mean that they were dumping Pasuwa’s backroom staff.
“The fact that we did not negotiate with the assistants does not mean that we don’t want them but we have to finish the head coach first because the rest are his men since he chooses whom he wants to work with.
“We have decided to do things differently this time around and the head coach’s contract will run concurrently with that of his assistants so that they are all answerable and responsible for the results together . . . you do not want to create a situation where there could be accusations of back-biting the head coach so that an assistant can take over.
“But we are confident that things will fall into place and we urge all the Dynamos stakeholders not to panic,” said Chifamba.
Pasuwa – who has maintained that he cannot outline a pre-season training programme before securing a contract – is expected to further consult with his management team following yesterday’s marathon meeting with the executive.
However, it is the decision by the Dynamos executive to ask the coach to produce a draft of his demands which has largely been blamed for delaying the contract talks with many critics arguing that Mubaiwa and his leadership should have tabled their standard contract and offer it to Pasuwa once he had successfully ended his probation by guiding the team to a league and cup double.
And when the coach submitted his wish list through Chikengezha, the decision by the executive to either scratch most of his demands or make huge cuts on the figures he had proposed also resulted in talks being pegged back.
The delays and the manner in which the executive, and not the coaches, hastily signed two Zambian players, also fuelled suspicions that Dynamos were looking to replace Pasuwa and were considering luring back their former coach – Keegan Mumba – who is also Zambian.
Konkola Blades and Young Chipolopolo mentor Mumba has since dismissed any move linking him with a return to Dynamos as mere rumour.
It has also emerged that any bid to lure a foreign coach for Dynamos at the moment could create problems between the executive and the club’s board of directors who made it a resolution that “only DeMbare’s former players should be given a chance to coach the club”.
In making that resolution the board of directors, led by Richard Chiminya, felt that “rotating the former players” was also another way of giving back to those former players and any moves to hire such coaches like
Mumba would have reportedly have been fiercely resisted by the DeMbare founding fathers.
The board of directors is responsible for appointing the Dynamos executive.
Online Reporter