Phiri quits as Shabanie Mine head coach

From Paul Mundandi
in Zvishavane
SHABANIE Mine Football club coach John Phiri has resigned with immediate effect
Phiri is understood to have approached the Shabanie executive on Thursday last week and advised them of his decision.
The executive is said to have given him a week to reconsider his decision, and on Thursday he finally threw in the towel
His resignation comes after the club chiefs engaged Saul Chaminuka as technical manager — in a style similar to Motor Action where Joey Antipas is  manager with David George as head coach.
The decision did not go down well with fans who advised Phiri to resign as they rallied behind him accusing Chaminuka of having dragged FC Victoria into Division One.
Shabanie chairman Wilfred Makazhe confirmed that Phiri had left the club.
“He tendered his resignation yesterday(Thursday).
“He had hinted that he wanted to resign, but I asked him to reconsider his position as I wanted him in the set up.
“We really wanted him to take advantage of the arrival of Chaminuka and tap from him.”
“Coaches come and go but every town or locality has got its own sons. Coaches like John Phiri are Zvishavane’s sons.
“Who knows, a season or so down the line, he could bounce back to coach the Chinda Boys or any other neighboring team. I respect but regret his decision to quit,” said Makazhe.
The chairman also dismissed allegations that they were not paying players and fans last season.
“We may have had challenges with funds, but, it should be noted that from the beginning of the 2010 season when we joined the PSL, we were paying our players and technical staff very competitive winning bonuses.
“We even increased the winning bonuses in the second half of the season.
“In terms of winning bonuses we don’t owe them even a single cent so it would be wrong for anyone to say players were playing for nothing or coaches were coaching for nothing”.
Phiri won the Southern Region Division One championship with Shabanie in 2009.
He then fine-tuned his team and challenged for the championship in the first half of the season when his side was in the top four only to falter in the second half.
Shabanie only lost one match at Maglas last season to former champions Gunners with goals from Willard “Bute” Katsande and Norman Maroto.
The miners drew with Dynamos, Hwange and Shooting Stars.
On the road they only lost to champions Motor Action and Black Mambas before beating Bantu Rovers and FC Victoria.
It was the team’s lacklustre performance, during the second half of the season, which prompted the leadership to appoint a technical manager to assist Phiri.
The fans are, however, divided with some welcoming the move while others have questioned the decision to bring Chaminuka on board.