Do we still have the Big Three?

Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter

AFTER Sakunda came on board to ease Bosso’s financial burden that had been blamed for the club’s failure to produce results, nobody would have expected Highlanders to sink low so soon in the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League.

 

When the Sakunda sponsorship was announced, there was widespread belief that it was now time to focus on the field of play rather than boardroom politics. Players had embarked on industrial action on a number of occasions after the club had failed to pay them.

However, since the players’ wages bill was taken care of, results are still not coming on the field of play.

One win in five matches is by any standards unacceptable for a club as big as Highlanders.

The question is why are the results not coming?

Attention has turned to the technical team that has been promising that things will come good.

Again head coach Mandla Mpofu finds his tactical and technical prowess under heavy scrutiny from frustrated Highlanders’ fans.

Mpofu’s reign has never been fully accepted, as some fans drew their daggers even before a ball had been kicked in the league.

It’s sad that the results have somewhat proved his doubters right.

Mpofu has been promising to turn the situation around, but unfortunately the more he speaks, the more the team’s performance worsens.

There is no love lost between Mpofu and Highlanders, but one thing for certain is that the Bosso family is running out of patience with him.

Resembling a man out of ideas on how he can change the team’s fortunes, the writing is now on the wall for Mpofu.

Of course, the decision lies with the Bosso chiefs, but at this moment it’s either they pull the trigger or have faith in him changing things.

It will be difficult, however, to go the faith route given the team itself is playing awful football.

Their play is disjointed and they can’t seem to find the back of the net.

Even in their 2-0 victory over Whawha two weeks ago, Bosso were far from impressive as they missed several chances that they should have buried.

Against Bulawayo City, Bosso again put up a lacklustre performance and found themselves on the receiving end.

All this happened on a weekend that saw all the traditional Big Three teams losing their fixtures. 

The biggest losers were Caps United, who were crushed 6-2 by Manica Diamonds.

Dynamos also found the going tough against Chicken Inn, losing 1-0 courtesy of a late Brian Muza strike.

Perhaps the weekend’s results show how other teams in the league have closed the gap between them and the so-called Big Three.

“Do we still have the Big Three?” football analyst Muziwethu Hadebe questioned.

“Maybe we don’t have a barometer for measuring the bigness of our times. They might be big in terms of their years in the game, past titles and natural fan base, but they have not been big in terms of proper football administration,” said Hadebe.

“All three should be leading in terms of appointing CEO’s who can turn their clubs into true business models and they can do just that and have proper administration structures. 

They also need to invest in their junior structures, as they used to do and produce their own. Bosso have the structure, but are not investing in their juniors. So the recruitment system of the three has been questionable.”

Football analyst Sakheleni Nxumalo feels the balance of power has shifted.

“I think the balance of power shifted when better resourced teams came into the picture, not only in the topflight, but also in the development ranks. Back in the day, the Big Three could easily lure talented youngsters and thus had a steady supply of players graduating from their feeder programmes, but that is no longer the case,” said Nxumalo.

“At Highlanders, for example, as long as they keep getting sponsorship packages that only cater for the senior teams, then it will always be difficult for them to revive their famed junior structures that spawned greats like Peter Ndlovu, Willard Khumalo, Mercedes Sibanda and others,” he said.

Week 5 Results

Dynamos 0-1 Chicken Inn, Bulawayo City 1-0 Highlanders, Manica Diamonds 6-2 CAPS United, WhaWha 0-3 Herentals, Bulawayo Chiefs 0-0 Tenax, ZPC Kariba 1-1 FC Platinum, Harare City 3-1 Cranborne Bullets, Ngezi Platinum 1-1 Yadah,Black Rhinos 1-2 Triangle United

– @innocentskizoe