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Tadious Manyepo Sports Reporter
DYNAMOS players can finally afford a smile after they each got paid winning bonuses amounting to US$1 750 in hard cash last week.
The Premiership football club had not been paying the players their winning allowances after initially agreeing on a rather weird plan to pay at the end of the season.
There had been growing murmurs of discontent in the Glamour Boys’ camp owing to that arrangement with players going public to air their concerns.
Dynamos have fallen too far behind leaders FC Platinum in the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League championship race where they trail the miners by eight points with only seven games to play before the season comes to an end.
Yet, it was DeMbare who started the season on the front foot and at one point they were carrying a seven-point lead over the current table-toppers.
But, the race became somewhat too tough for the Tonderai Ndiraya-coached team with most analysts believing the manner in which the team was dropping points had a lot to do with their failing to get their winning bonuses after matches as per the usual tradition.
In May, several senior players told the media they were only fulfilling fixtures for their coach whom they have much respect for.
A fortnight ago, DeMbare’s executive chairman, Isaiah Mupfurutsa, revealed that the team would be reverting to the usual arrangements and pay the players their winning bonuses after matches.
And last week all the players received their dues for the opening 23 matches of the season.
Players, who have made the cut for match-day squads in all the first 23 games, including the Premier Soccer League’s best goalie Taimon Mvula, each got US$1 750.
Dynamos won 15 games and drew five times in the first 23 games.
A win is rewarded with US$100 while draws carry half the amount.
There are four outstanding matches which the club has vowed to settle in the coming days. Mupfurutsa revealed yesterday that the club had to do what the players were pressing for.
“As you might already be aware, at Dynamos, we had agreed that we would be paying each of the players their winning bonuses at the end of the season. We said look, since all of them had received their signing-on fees and everyone was receiving their salaries in United States dollars, we wanted to also give them the winning bonuses as a lump sum,” said Mupfurutsa.
“We wanted to give them a once-off payment so they would be in a position to do some significant things at the end of the season.
“Anyway, the players pressed us to release the winning bonuses and we have gladly settled the payments in cash for the first 23 games of the season.
“We have given all of them what’s due to them for the first 23 games. As Dynamos Football Club, we thrive to create an enabling environment in which the employer and the employee should be happy.
“We have an outstanding obligation of paying the winning bonuses for four matches. We paid the winning bonuses in cash for the first 23 matches up to July 31. The other four games played after July 31 are not yet settled. We are working towards settling the issue.”
The players will each get an additional US$300 from the four games which have not yet been settled. Dynamos beat Tenax 2-0 at Vengere in their first match after July 31 before drawing away at ZPC Kariba.
They then beat Harare City at the National Sports Stadium and drew their last match 1-1 against Black Rhinos.
Meanwhile, the Harare banker, Mupfurutsa, has reaffirmed the team’s support of coach Ndiraya despite Dynamos facing yet another barren year following their exit from the Chibuku Super Cup on Sunday.
They will need a miracle to win the league title which is firmly in the hands of FC Platinum.
“We have done so well this season. We had our moments but that is part of the game. I am sure we are not yet throwing in the towel. We will keep on pushing and see where we will be at the end of the season,” said Mupfurutsa.
“We exited the Chibuku Super Cup in a painful way and you cannot blame anyone given the tie-breaker had to be the penalties.”
Online Reporter