FC Platinum’s carrot . . . dangle huge incentives for players

town and staged a spectacular smash-and-grab raid.
After nine months of dealing with shattered dreams, in which they have been stalked by nightmares of the own goal by Daniel Veremu that settled a tense championship-decider, FC Platinum are ready for another fight.
The players have been told they will get US$1 000 each, twice what the Warriors got as a winning bonus for beating Burundi in a Nations Cup qualifier, if they end a three-match winless run against the Glamour Boys.
Although the FC Platinum executive refused to confirm the figure, The Herald has it on good authority that the players have been promised rich pickings if they can bring down the champions.
“If they play well and we are impressed we might give them something but as for the bonuses it is news to us (that we have promised them US$1000 each),” said Thadson Zhou, the club chairman.
But FC Platinum players told The Herald that they have been promised their biggest pay day, in terms of winning bonuses, if they beat DeMbare.
It’s their first meeting since that 0-1 defeat for FC Platinum in a decisive league match at Mandava last November.
Had the country’s richest football club held out to a draw, which would have been enough to win them the league, they would have made history by becoming the first club, from outside Harare and Bulawayo, to win the premier prize on the domestic football scene since Independence.
They would also have joined the legendary St Paul’s Musami team of Father Davies, which remains the first team outside the two major cities to win the league title, after their success story in 1966.
Instead, it was Dynamos who won an 18th league crown, extending the gap between them and second-placed team Highlanders (seven) by 11 league titles and taking their tally to seven more titles than the combined total won by Bosso and CAPS United.
A lot has changed since that last meeting between DeMbare and FC Platinum with Rahman Gumbo losing his job here after failing to deliver the league title and wobbling along the way in the fresh campaign this year.
Tendai Chikuni, Gumbo’s trusted lieutenant, has now been handed the big job and, if he can beat Dynamos tomorrow, he can be assured of not only a big bonus but guarantees that he can keep the job for the rest of the season.
Chikuni has been promised that his salary and perks could be improved to the same level of what Gumbo was getting should he give the club’s leaders the bonus that they badly need — a victory over DeMbare.
The problem is that FC Platinum have never won against Dynamos since being promoted into the top-flight league and, crucially, are yet to score against the country’s biggest and most successful football team in 270 minutes of action.
Could that all come to an end tomorrow?
The Zvishavane club expect a full house at Mandava and have hiked the cheapest ticket to US$5.
“The game on Saturday is a big match and we will not lose in Mandava,” a bullish Chikuni told a media conference here yesterday.
“We are already motivated as there is no club in Zimbabwe which pays better than FC Platinum.
“We aren’t under any pressure and it will be business as usual.
“I am appealing to the fans to come and celebrate with us after 90 minutes as I am looking forward to a very positive result.
“Everyone in my team is raring to go and I am only worried that I will be missing the services of Joel (Ngodzo) who has not been playing since last month.”
Former Gunners forward, Ali Sadiki, has turned into the FC Platinum talisman and as taken his football to another level since moving to this town.
Benjamin Marere, frustrated by Gumbo to the point of considering leaving the club, is back in favour and looks relaxed and could prove to be the club’s trump card in the second half of the season.
Infact, FC Platinum will feel like they have signed a new forward.
Mitchelle Katsvairo has done very well in his first season at the club while Donald Ngoma, who was the subject of an audacious bid from DeMbare for his services during the transfer window as a replacement for Takesure Chinyama, is back from injury.
Former Dynamos defender, Norman “Chikozho” Togara, has been a pillar of strength in defence and has also provided a number of crucial goals for the platinum miners this season.
His only challenge is that he tends to lose his cool, when playing against the big boys, and was sent off in the 1-3 defeat against CAPS United in Harare in the first half of the season.
DeMbare have played two big games in succession against Highlanders and CAPS United and picked four points but, without Chinyama in the Harare Derby, they looked lightweight in attack.
“Dynamos is a very big club and has the capacity to come up with better players on Saturday,” said Chikuni.
“But I just want to let them know that we are ready for them.”
Veremu, scorer of the goal that sucked life out of their championship campaign last season, has been installed as captain as regular skipper, Zeph Ngodzo, struggles to cement a place in the team.
Veremu said it was payback time for DeMbare.
“We have never scored against Dynamos in a competitive match and on Saturday we are definitely going to score,” said the Zimbabwe international defender.
“I am urging the fans to accept the outcome of the match as we do not want violence.”
Only two teams, CAPS United and Black Mambas, managed to score at Mandava last season while Dynamos needed a helping hand from FC Platinum to get their priceless goal at the stadium.
This season Shabanie Mine, Hardbody, Gunners and Highlanders have already scored at Mandava.
FC Platinum rarely lose on home soil and their two defeats at Mandava have come against the country’s two biggest football clubs — Dynamos and Highlanders.
A rivalry has developed between Dynamos and FC Platinum, though not yet at the same level as DeMbare and CAPS United, and when the Glamour Boys tried to secure the services of striker Nelson Maziwisa and midfielder Allan Gahadzikwa, the platinum miners said the two were not for sale.
Maziwisa, the league’s leading goalscorer, is on loan at Shabanie Mine while Gahadzikwa, after a bright start, has struggled to adjust to life outside the capital.
The FC Platinum supporters here believe one of the reasons the team blew the chance to win the championship was the strained relationship between coach Gumbo and the community. Gumbo never interacted with the community and chose to isolate himself and riled scores of FC Platinum fans.
In contrast, Chikuni has chosen a different approach and reaches out to the community’s leaders, holds consultations with the club’s leadership, has changed the methods of training and now holds media conferences.
He also has a good relationship with the players and they have vowed to play for him.
“Our coach is young and very good. We need him and we are going to play for him so that he remains in charge because, who knows, we might get a worse coach if he leaves,’” said midfielder, Cabby Kamhapa.
Whichever way, it looks like it will be a classic and Zvishavane, as usually happens when Dynamos come to town, will come to life.