adminSOCCER fans, particularly the die-hard Bosso fans, recently woke up to the news that Bongani Mafu had been confirmed as the Highlanders’ coach, having penned a one-year contract. Mafu’s appointment comes at a time when there has been a weight of expectations with many in the Highlanders family still disappointed with the forgettable past football season. And rightfully so, next season the Highlanders followers expect nothing but for the new coach to deliver following a long barren spell since they last clinched the bacon way back in 2006.
And Mafu has since made his intentions clear. “I can’t promise to win all the matches but all I can say is that teams will struggle to beat me and we will do well as a club,” he said at his first Press conference as the new Bosso coach.
“My ambition is to play excellent, disciplined football and get the much needed results. I need to build a team that will be united and disciplined on and off the field,’’ added the coach who has signed a renewable one year contract with Bosso.
On paper, Mafu boasts an impressive resume. He has coached former PSL side Zimbabwe Saints, he is a holder of an elite Uefa B coaching badge, and has had a “stint” with Botswana side Gaborone United.
Mafu was also involved in youth coaching, taking Under-18s with Sherborne Town in the Dorset Youth League in the United Kingdom and as they say the test of the pudding is in the eating.
Prior to the appointment of Mafu, the Highlanders family was keen on engaging a coach who would not only win them the championship, but also ensure that Bosso shed their eight-year-old bridesmaid tag to bitter rivals, DeMbare.
A coach that Highlanders needed was one who knows that the secret to success is hunger, a mentor who will transform Highlanders’ something like the prancing peacocks scenario into something like a pride of lions.
Highlanders were after a coach who would instill confidence in a team that has been crying out for success for a long time. A coach who will emphasise on the Highlanders culture with a strong bias towards their once revered junior policy. And in Mafu they appear to have found such a person.
The belief is that the coach will emphasise on a proper record of all the club’s players at every level, constantly monitoring the progress of the juniors, etc.
But for a coach to deliver there should be an enabling environment. And the powers that be at Highlanders know what we mean.
Perhaps we can only say let there be visible structures, where for example, Highlanders Board play their proper supervisory role, and the club’s capacity to implement policies.
The club’s structures should be visible with clear checks and balances. Since they last won the Championships in 2006, Highlanders have been changing coaches but at the same time without any tangible benefits.
There is a saying that one cannot conquer if everyone is not on their side. And perhaps Mafu’s job will be made easier by the fact that, as we note elsewhere in this newspaper, the majority of the Bosso followers have given him the Thumbs Up.
One of Zimbabwe football’s biggest undoing has been the petty jealousies and unwarranted suspicions based on the roots of players or coaches at the expense of striving for success through employing the right personel on merit.
We hope Mafu will confound us all.
A prosperous and successful 2015 to you all.
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Online Reporter