Online Reporter
Blessing Malinganiza
Zimpapers Sports Hub
NEWLY-appointed FC Platinum coach Joel Luphahla has hit the ground running since his appointment by the former champions and has been holding training sessions to familiarise himself with the players who will be working under him.
The ex-Simba Bhora coach took over from Norman Mapeza, who has since joined Scottland after ending a decade of service at the Zvishavane miners.
Luphahla is aware of the bond that had naturally been created between the players and Mapeza because of his predecessor’s long spell at FC Platinum, during which he won three of their four championship titles.
He said the players would take some time to adjust “to a different voice’’ that is not Mapeza’s.
The tenure at FC Platinum will be Luphahla’s second job as head coach after his stint with Simba Bhora.
Prior to that he had held assistant coach roles at domestic football giants Highlanders and Dynamos.
“I’m happy that I’m here and I’m sure you also saw that when we came in, we had to have sort of a training session or assessment for three days last week.
“Some people will think it was some trials of sort but we felt that we are coming into a new institution that the boys had gotten used to,’’ Luphahla said.
“There was a voice for ten years. And obviously, we feel that we will need more time for these boys to understand us.
“We will need more time also for the team to realise that there is now a change.”
The former Zimbabwe winger said it was imperative that he met with the players before they head off to their long off-season break.
“So, we felt that if the boys went on holidays off-season without us meeting, it was going to be a tall order come January.
“So that is why we asked the boys to stay behind a little bit so that we can have the training sessions.
“Also, they can get to understand our voice and get to know how we want things done. You know, basically it’s a, uh, a meet-and-train sort of a situation with the approach.
“And I’m sure that the boys are happy. We didn’t want them to go on holiday, you know, with a lot of worries.”
“Our aim was to make sure that we outline ourselves. We will let these boys know who we are.
“We introduce ourselves, our new philosophy, and our new style, and I’m happy with what I saw,’’ added Luphahla.
“As you can see also, we’re still here with the young boys. There’s massive, massive talent that we are seeing here.
“There is a lot of work that will be done, but we are up for it. And we are happy that all these things that are happening, we have done them. Because it will make it easier for us when we come back. Now we know what we’re supposed to do.”
Luphahla saluted FC Platinum legendary coach for the work he did in turning the miners into perennial championship title contenders.
“We are going to just usher into a moving vehicle. And we are also happy and give credit to the departing coach, Norman Mapeza, he’s leaving a healthy team. We are grateful for that.
“We are not walking into a team that doesn’t have quality. The quality is there. These boys are multi-talented.
“So we’re happy that we are coming into a healthy institution. Yeah, I’m happy.
“If you know my coaching history, I’m one coach who’s always worked with these young boys. I also had an academy a long time ago that produced a lot of good players that are now playing.
“Some are playing in the national team. So, these are the things that I want to see. These are the developments that I want to get involved with. And I’m happy. I’ve seen the Under-15s here.”
Luphahla hinted at the infusion of more younger players in the FC Platinum squad.
“Good, good talent, massive talent. The Under-17s and with the Under-19s as well.
“So, I’m hands-on.” I’m going to be hands-on and make sure that we transform these young boys.
“We want to give them hope. We want to promote as many as we can. We want to make sure that these boys know that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
“So, if you have these developmental sides, we shouldn’t be hiring a lot of players out there.
“We want to try and correct that and make sure that when we are going to bring somebody, we are bringing quality.
“But we want to try and make sure that we develop the quality from within so that we give each and every boy from Zvishavane that dream, that chance that they can make it in football,” he said.
Peter Tanyanyiwa