Innocent Mugabe doing wonders

in England for the past two years and is now managing a junior team called Woodley Saints.
And recently Mugabe became the darling of the young soccer players at Woodley Saints when he helped their boys’ Under-18 team to win the league title.
In fact, Woodley Saints’ Under-18 team recently covered themselves in glory when they became the EBYFL Division Three champions.
Having started the season in spectacular form, including an 11-0 victory in their opening home match of the season, Saints immediately became the team to beat.
However, that early season form looked to be tailing off, as only one point was taken from two consecutive games.
After that wobble, a tight 1-0 victory against Woodley Hammers returned Saints to winning ways and they ended the year with a stunning 7-2 victory over Ashridge Park, which left them one point clear at the top, having played a game less than their nearest challengers.
Despite recording only two points since the turn of the year, other results favoured Saints and they clinched the Championship, with one match (against local rivals Woodley Hammers) to spare. That game ended 0-0 and Hammers ended being second in the Division.
It has been a fantastic final season for the team, some of whom have played together since the age of seven. 
And special thanks should go to none other than the Saints coach, Mugabe, who took over only last summer and worked with the team over what would normally be the summer break in order to gain an early edge over the rest of the division.
Mugabe turned 40 on April 3 this year and lives at Reading in Berkshire.
He left Zimbabwe in January 2003 to settle in England and ventured into coaching in 2010 after finishing his Uefa “B” licence course.
In fact, after getting his coaching badge, Mugabe decided to look for a club to coach and he chose to coach an older youth group and started to manage a team based in Berkshire County, south-east of England.
And this saw him getting a job at Woodley Saints.
Innocent Mugabe told The Herald from his base in England yesterday that when he took over the team in July 2011 during the off-season, he had a lot to do as the team had finished bottom of the Under-17 league the previous season.
“I started organising a lot of friendly matches and worked a lot on the roles and responsibilities of every player and also for them to understand my coaching philosophy.
“We managed to strike an understanding, so as the season started in September, we played in an eight-team league and managed to win the league, only losing two matches out of 14.
“We are still playing a Challenge Cup based on points and it is won after playing seven games. My team is currently leading with five wins out of five games with only two games remaining.
“We only need a point from the remaining games. Our league is called East Berkshire Youth Football League.”
Mugabe said he is now hoping for new challenges, hopefully coaching an adults’ team next season.
Before he left Zimbabwe to settle in England, Mugabe played for CAPS United during the 1992 season and that was his only year in the Premier League.
He was out for some time due to an ankle injury sustained at the beginning of the 1993 season.
At CAPS United, Mugabe played under coach Freddie “Karamba” Mkwesha and his assistant, the late Clever Muzuva, winning three Premiership medals, including the Independence Trophy.
During his playing days at CAPS United, Mugabe rubbed shoulders with the Harare side’s former greats such as the late Joel “Jubilee” Shambo, Brenna Msiska, Eddie “Major” Muchongwe, Carlos Max, Mpumelelo “Era Muna” Dzowa, Silver “Bhonzo” Chigwenje, Joe “Kode” Mugabe, the late Maxwell “Cheche” Billiart, Gift Mudangwe (late), Benjamin Mpofu (late) and Morgan Nkhatazo.
“Joel Shambo was the best player I’ve played with and he guided me every time,” said Mugabe, who later left CAPS United to play for Division One side Air Zimbabwe Jets and won the Division One title with them in 1996 under coaches Charlie Jones and the late Never Chibhanguza.