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Tedious Manyepo, Harare Bureau
RAHMAN Gumbo’s future as Chicken Inn coach is hanging by a thread amid revelations that he was sitting on a one game ultimatum ahead of last weekend’s round of fixtures which the Gamecocks lost 0-1 to cross-town rivals Bulawayo City.
It has emerged that the under-fire gaffer was supposed to be axed last week before the outgoing league champions’ tie against Bulawayo City due to a string of poor results but, the club’s leadership then resolved that the former FC Platinum coach be given another chance to prove himself against City.
But, Sipho Ndlovu’s second half goal condemned the defending champions to their 10th loss of the season to leave them sitting eighth on the log standings, just a point off the bottom half of the table.
Chicken Inn secretary-general Tawengwa Hara was left furious with the players whom he accused of lacking determination.
The team’s management is expected to announce its position on Gumbo who has failed to make an impact with a club which was touted as one of the title favourites early in the season given that they had managed to retain most of the players who starred in the Gamecocks maiden championship triumph last season.
Despite losing the pair of Mitchel Katsvairo and Edmore Chirambadare to South African giants Kaizer Chiefs and later reigning Soccer Star of the Year Danny Phiri to Golden Arrows, Chicken Inn still managed to keep the core of the team which conquered the country last year.
Although Hara played down Gumbo’s one match ultimatum, he hinted that the coach could be on his way out of the champions’ hot seat.
“It is not true that Rahman (Gumbo) was sitting on an ultimatum. In as much as we are concerned, he is the Chicken Inn coach.
“We are not aware of the so called ultimatums. He is our coach…I cannot say he will remain the coach until the end of the season. That much I don’t know… what I know at the moment is he is our coach,” said Hara.
Chicken Inn are on eighth position on the log standings with 35 points, 18 below log leaders Caps United with just four games before the season ends.
Gumbo has failed to meet the standards set by his predecessor Joey Antipas who delivered the league title for the modest club last season before taking on the best of African clubs in the Caf Champions League only to be controversially eliminated by Khama Billiat’s Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa in the first round of the competition.
Antipas has since left the Bulawayo team to coach a South African Division One side AmaZulu.
Online Reporter