‘I’m going nowhere’

coming from a militant section of CAPS United fans who demanded that he quit the Green Machine at Rufaro on Sunday.
The former Warriors’ skipper, who has a nomadic coaching career that reached its peak when he guided Gunners to league championship glory two years ago, was besieged by a mob of CAPS United fans.
The Green Machine were held to a 1-1 draw by Black Mambas, which followed their 0-2 defeat to Blue Ribbon, and some of the CAPS United fans could not stomach the five dropped points and turned on their coach.
Chunga has always enjoyed a tricky relationship with a section of the CAPS United fans who believe he can’t be trusted to guide their team to glory because of his strong background at their rivals Dynamos.
CAPS United, who won their first three league matches, are now second on the Castle Lager Premiership table after losing pole position to Premiership debutants Chicken Inn.
The Bulawayo side – who meet CAPS United in their next match – are unbeaten in five games and now lead the race with 13 points while the Green Machine have 10 points.
Yesterday Chunga revealed that he never contemplated quitting CAPS United, even as the abuse rang loudly in his ears, because of a tougher mental strength that now enables him to handle such challenges.
Chunga has also received strong support from the club’s operations director Farai Jere who said on Sunday that there was no justification for the team’s leadership to fire a coach who had won three, drawn one and lost one league match.
There has been speculation, in the past two months, linking Chunga to Premiership newboys FC Platinum and the former Warriors’ skipper believes the publication of the story in The Sunday Mail might have whipped up emotions among those fans who don’t believe in him at CAPS United.
“I don’t have an offer from FC Platinum right now and I don’t know why I keep being linked to the job and I don’t know why my name cropped up at a time we should have been mourning a dear colleague who had passed away in tragic circumstances,” said Chunga.
“But what I know is that it gave ammunition to those who have been saying that Bambo is not committed to CAPS United and there was also this picture of this heartless man who was already seeing an opportunity for a job where others were mourning a colleague.
“Football fans react differently and I’m so sure that there were some who were only waiting for the wrong result, in as far as CAPS are concerned, on Sunday for them to turn on me.
“It’s sad that I can’t control the speculation that ends up having a bearing on how people react to me and I guess it comes with the job and you just have to accept that you are a victim.”
Chunga said winning the championship at Gunners turned him into a tough man, spiritually, and he wanted to win the title again.
He believes, despite all the mayhem that characterised the last game, that he is at the right club to win that title.
He said he found it difficult, at times, to understand those who were opposed to his stay at CAPS United.
“I am not sure about those people because I don’t really know what they want. Statistics show we are on second position on the table and have been doing quite well,” said Chunga.
“I tend to think that little knowledge some times is very dangerous.
“Maybe they should look themselves in the mirror and try to reflect on the past.
“Of course we didn’t do well according to our expectations but the challenge for us is to keep working hard to get positive results and looking forward to solutions to our problems.
“The most important thing is to collect points and that is our focus.”
The Green Machine are relishing a top-of-the-table clash with Pilani “Beefy” Ncube’s table-topping Chicken Inn in their next assignment.
The Bulawayo side, who have also roped Adam Ndlovu into their coaching department, are having a dream start in their first Premiership campaign after recording four wins in five games, with one ending in a stalemate.
They beat Mambas 1-0 at Morris Depot last Thursday, just three days before Warumwa Warumwa held Makepekepe, and followed that with a 4-1 thrashing of Shooting Stars courtesy of a brace from Canaan Nkomo and strikes from Qinani Sibanda and Thomas Chimenya.
CAPS United have the best position, so far in the championship race, among the traditional Big Three with Highlanders and Dynamos down the table.
Chunga was forced out of CAPS United during his initial spell with the Green Machine after fans turned on him after a run of draws.
Since Charles Mhlauri led Makepekepe to their second straight league championship in 2005, won on the final day of the season despite a 0-3 defeat to Black Rhinos after Masvingo United lost to a Dynamos side coached by Chunga at Mucheke, coaches have struggled to fulfil the expectations of the CAPS United fans.
Most of them have been hounded out of the team and they include Lloyd Chitembwe, Gishon Ntini and Luke Masomere.
Harare giants Dynamos continued to sing the blues in front of goal as they failed to find the target against Hwange and Highlanders in consecutive goalless draws.
DeMbare have not scored in four of their five matches and have only two goals to show for all their efforts this season as they languish in 10th place on five points.
They were hoping to restore confidence with a win over Hwange and Highlanders but coach Lloyd Mutasa knows that he badly needs someone to get him goals.
While some of the Dynamos fans turned against him following the goalless draw against Hwange, Mutasa knows that he bought himself space with the point he picked up at Barbourfields. But the Glamour Boys will need to improve at Rufaro where they have dropped eight out of 12 points and where they have only scored two league goals.
Midfielder Murape Murape, who replaced Denver Mukamba against Highlanders on Sunday, will miss Dynamos’ next tie against Masvingo United after he was shown a red card for insulting referee Nkosana Nduna.
Bosso moved into sixth place with the draw and have now amassed eight points from five outings following Friday’s 2-1 win over 2009 champions Gunners away at La Farge.
Gunners are still winless in four games.
But it is Shabanie Mine who now appear to be the Premiership’s whipping boys as they anchor the table after suffering yet another defeat with the 0-3 thumping at Motor Action.
The Zvishavane side, now under the guidance of Arnold Jani, have lost all their matches and are yet to get a point with four games played.
Fixtures
Saturday
Gunners v Kiglon (Lafarge), Shooting Stars v Highlanders (Gwanzura), Black Mambas v FC Platinum (Morris Depot), CAPS United v Chicken Inn (National Sports Stadium)
Sunday
Blue Ribbon v Motor Action (Gwanzura), Zimbabwe Saints v Monomotapa (Luveve), Shabanie Mine v Hwange (Maglas)
Monday – Dynamos v Masvingo (Rufaro)
Wednesday
FC Platinum v Shabanie Mine (Maglas)