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Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
MANICA Diamond coach, Jairos Tapera has flexed his muscle for the first time after taking over the reins of the Mutare-based Castle Lager Premiership outfit by showing the exit to five senior players and roped in almost the same number from his former paymasters — Triangle FC.
Top on the list of those who have been offloaded is promising striker, Nyasha Tito Chintuli who scored nine goals before plunging into a dry spell that saw him lose the scoring touch for the greater part of the second half of the season.
Midfielder Xolisani Moyo, striker Lloyd Katongomara, former Tenax forward Farai Mugumwa and veteran player Timire Mamvura were deemed excess baggage by the new coach and will join Chintuli on their way out of the Manica Diamonds camp.
Tapera has agreed in principle to enlist the services of bustling veteran striker and 2022 soccer star of the year finalist, Donald Ngoma, fellow former Triangle trio of Gerald Bhero, Kelvin Gwau and central defender, Tawanda Chisi for Manica Diamonds’ 2023 premiership campaign.
The former Zimbabwe national Under-20 coach has also brought in gifted player, Panashe Mutasa — son to legendary player and now coach, Lloyd Mutasa — whose talents were hardly noticeable to many as he turned out for a largely struggling outfit, Tenax, which was eventually relegated from the top-flight league.
In his bid to strengthen the 2023 Class of Manica Diamonds, Tapera has also recruited Tedious Baye from GreenFuel.
Baye is the reigning ZIFA Eastern Region player of the year after a sterling performance that helped the Lowveld outfit gain promotion into the country’s top-flight league without a defeat.
Tapera replaced Johanisi Nhumwa as the Manica Diamonds head coach with five rounds of league matches remaining of the 2021-2022 season and went on to open his account for the Gem Boys with a depressing 0-3 defeat at the hands of ZPC Kariba at Nyamhunga Stadium in Kariba.
That last five rounds of the just-ended Castle Lager Premiership league season helped Manica Diamonds’ new coach to see the toxicity of having a player average age of 33 and Tapera made his intentions very clear to build his squad around an average age of 25.
True to the lanky former Black Rhinos team manager’s word that he would use the off-season transfer gap to drastically bring that number down to 25, the process is now afoot.
“We are going ahead with our plans and so far we have roped in four players from Triangle FC, Donald Ngoma, Gerald Bhero, Kelvin Gwau and central defender, Tawanda Chisi. We have also signed Panashe Mutasa and Tedious Baye.
“We are going ahead with our move to strengthen our squad and we will stick to our word of trying to reduce the squad to an average age of 25. It is not an easy task, but that has to be accomplished somehow, one way or the other,” said Tapera.
The Gem Boys flattered to deceive after an impressive start to the season, but somehow later failed to maintain their glitz and the team started dropping crucial points along the way.
Much was expected from the Mutare-based club, not only because of the pace they set early in the season, but also given the relatively better working conditions for players and the technical department, let alone the collection of experienced players, most of whom trace their roots to the eastern border city.
Said Tapera in a recent interview with Post Sport: “The previous team had an average age of 33 years and we are wishing to reduce that to 25 years of good players.
“It is a very noble and good thing with the experience they (older players) bring to the team, but you also need the intensity and energy you get from the younger players. One needs to fuse both to get the best product.”
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