Jere quits CAPS United

Machine, saying he has failed in his mission and is now offloading his shareholding in the country’s third biggest football club.

The Harare businessman holds a 25 percent shareholding in CAPS United FC (Pvt) Ltd, the company that owns the Green Machine, with the remaining 75 percent owned by Twine Phiri, who assumed control of the club at the turn of the millennium.
For long the second most powerful man at CAPS United, Jere became the central figure in the running of the Green Machine since last year after his partner Phiri took over as the PSL chairman, where he has been concentrating most of his energies.

Although noone at the Green Machine is prepared to confirm the latest developments, The Herald can reveal that Jere has already advised his fellow partners at CAPS United of his decision to sever all administrative and shareholding links with the team by the end of this year.
Sources said yesterday that Jere believes he has failed in his mission at the Green Machine, after yet another lean season for the Harare giants, and feels the time is now ripe to give way to others, with fresh ideas, who could add value to the brand and bring success.

The sources revealed that Jere had targeted leading CAPS United either to the league championship, or at worst, second place this season, so that the Green Machine could play in the Champions League next year.
But when that failed in spectacular fashion, despite a flying start to the Castle Lager Premiership campaign, Jere is reported to have been so disillusioned he decided it was time to leave CAPS United.
“Farai feels that he has tried his best but the goals that he had set for the team this season have not been met, by a mile, and he believes – as the main man in the administrative structures of the team – he should take responsibility,” said the sources.

“His target was that CAPS United should be the league champions this year and, in the worst possible scenario, they should finish in second place so that they would be able to compete with the best in Africa in the Champions League next season.
“It started well, and everything appeared to be going according to plan, but then things changed quickly and as the team struggled, Farai was questioning his conscience, just about every day, until he reached the stage where he decided it was the right time to leave.

“Obviously, this is a very sensitive subject given the impact it could have on the team, and that is why it is being handled secretly and noone is saying anything right now but it has filtered through to the players and they have been discussing about it at their training ground.

“There is a feeling that this is what affected the morale of the boys when they travelled to Shabanie for their midweek league game and, after some very strong performances in recent weeks, they just could not get going at Maglas and fell to a surprise defeat.

“Obviously, Farai had built a very good relationship with the majority of the players and the technical team at the club and when such a thing happens, it has the effect of demoralising the spirits of the players and that’s why some believe CAPS United lost at Shabanie because of the developments in the boardroom.”

Jere refused to discuss anything, related to the issue, yesterday while team owner, Phiri, said he needed to talk with some key stakeholders at the club before making any public announcements.
The controlling parties at the club will have to work out the value of Jere’s shareholding as part of the divorce proceedings.

In August this year, Jere and Phiri hit out at critics who accused them of converting CAPS United into a flea market for player sales to South African clubs, arguing that they also needed to balance their books in a strenuous operating environment where their salary bill was around US$25 000 a month with more than US$300 000, in the first seven months of this year alone.

“It’s a culmination of all these things and they have been having an impact on Farai who feels his input and investment into the team, which is quite a huge sacrifice in today’s economic climate, is not being appreciated and is also not reaping the rewards for the team,” said the sources.

“He is saying ‘I have failed gentlemen and it’s time for others to come on board’.”
A lifelong CAPS United fan, Jere moved into the club’s administrative structures at the beginning of the 2005 Premiership season when he replaced Willard Manyengavana as the team manager.

Working closely with coach Charles Mhlauri, they plotted CAPS United’s successful defence of their Premiership title after a riveting race, which spilled into the final weekend, with the Green Machine emerging as champions despite losing 0-3 to Black Rhinos in their last game.

That could have opened a window for Masvingo United to be champions, should they beat a limping Dynamos starring relegation at Mucheke, but the Glamour Boys turned it all around and goals by Clive Mwale and Elliot Matsika sealed a 2-1 victory that shattered Yuna Yuna’s hopes.

In January 2006, with CAPS United still celebrating their double league championship winning success story, Jere quit his post as team manager, saying he wanted to concentrate on running his business.

Four months later, he was back in the fold, with Phiri appointing him the club’s operations director and played a key role in the boardroom battle, which they eventually won, to keep the CAPS United franchise after CAPS Holdings had tried to crush their project.

This year, he rose again to become the vice-president of the team.
But while Jere has remained ambitious, in the past six years, CAPS United have struggled to scale the heights of 2004 and 2005, triggering unrest among the fans and Moses Chunga’s second spell as coach ended under a storm this year amid violent protests from supporters.

Jere, fingered by a militant group of the club’s fans as the man who had hired Chunga, was abused at the National Sports Stadium this year as CAPS United crashed to defeat at the hands of Hwange and police had to use teargas to disperse the mob.
He was even accused of being a Dynamos fan.

“My passion for CAPS United runs deep and this is the only club that I have loved, since my days as a kid, and I have found some of the insinuations, from the fans that I am a Dynamos man, to be ridiculous, because that will never be the case as long as I live,” Jere wrote in a tearful statement published in this newspaper.

“When you go to a football match, with your family to support the team you have sacrificised so much for, in terms of financial resources, in a bid to make them the best club in the country, you certainly don’t expect to suffer the kind of abuse that was directed to me on Wednesday.”