Chronicle Editor
Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
WHILE it appears normal for teams to appoint and replace coaches when they see fit, given that football is a performance-based industry, some of the firings we have seen this season in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) raise eyebrows and leave fans with more questions than answers.
The brutal nature of some dismissals in this year’s PSL leaves a lot to be desired.
It has been a strange season that has affirmed the culture of firing and hiring coaches in the local game.
Teams preferred to keep players, even if theirs was a poor show on the field. Coaches were made to bite the dust and search for employment elsewhere.
Rodwell Dhlakama (Ngezi Platinum Stars), Benjani Mwaruwari (Ngezi Platinum Stars), Mandla Mpofu (Highlanders), Herbert Maruwa (Black Rhinos), Godfrey Tamirepi (ZPC Kariba), Philani Ncube (Bulawayo City) and Johanisi Nhumwa (Manica Diamonds) make up the list of coaches axed by their clubs this season.
With just five games to go to the finish line, it will not be a surprise if another gaffer is put to the guillotine.
Saturday Chronicle Sports takes a look at five of the most shocking and weird decisions at clubs this season.
Maruwa fired for juju allegations
You have to give it to Black Rhinos for the most bizarre of firings.
Normally, a coach is fired for failure to produce results. But not Herbert Maruwa.
The club parted ways with the allegations of engaging in juju practices.
The club said the decision to dismiss Maruwa was informed by his “unbecoming behaviour during match days which had tainted the corporate image of the club. . .”
Maruwa was reportedly involved in a nasty fight before Back Rhinos’ match against Triangle at Gibbo after performing juju rites on the field of play before Sunday’s match which they went on to lose.
While issues of juju use are not new in Africa, Maruwa’s sacking will remain one of the biggest surprise sackings this year.
Ndiraya gone, comes back and hangs on
Imagine a coach is fired when he is just a point shy of the table toppers after 15 games.
Not only that, Dynamos had only lost once in nine matches.
So why was Ndiraya suspended? Even the club failed to explain and he was inevitably reinstated.
Highest level of confusion!
Had that decision not been made, fans imagine what position Dynamos would be in the log.
Probably or maybe, Chazunguza would have been singing “zora butter” at their loudest at this point of the Castle Lager football league campaign.
They will again finish this season without a trophy in their “loaded” cabinet after they were bundled out of the Chibuku Super Cup by FC Platinum for the second time running.
Ndiraya is still there getting his share but will he live to see the next campaign?
It doesn’t look that way.
Thuts returns to Chiefs
Thulani “Thuts” Sibanda had left the club under unclear circumstances the previous year but still managed to make a return this season.
His return was somehow unusual.
He bounced back to the Bulawayo Chiefs technical setup after the club fired assistant coaches Mark Mathe and Farai Tawachera following a string of poor results.
What was awkward about the arrangement is that head coach Nilton Terroso stayed but his assistants were sent packing.
Thought results were a collective effort of the whole technical team set-up? Not in this case.
Questions then arose as to if the Portuguese felt his assistants were not good enough or as the coach would go on to explain that it was an administrative decision, he had nothing to do with.
Whatever the case, it wasn’t normal.
Mugurasave’s U-turn
At Tenax, Mugurasave resigned in protest against the abrupt return of assistant coach, Blessing Madombi.
Madombi, who was Mugurasave’s assistant, had been shown the exit at Tenax for disciplinary issues, but was abruptly drafted back into the technical department set-up, a development that is understood to have irked Mugurasave.
He was later reinstated, after he changed his mind.
What a circus.
Ngezi Platinum’s failed gamble
One thing is for sure, Ngezi Platinum is a team that has an insatiable appetite for success. Patience is not their game. They fired Rodwell Dhlakama, a man who had transformed the team, breathing in hope of winning a PSL title which has remained elusive for the ambitious club.
His main highlight at Madamburo was leading them to the Chibuku Super Cup final where they agonisingly lost to FC Platinum after penalty shootouts.
His replacement was to be Benjani Mwaruwari whose spell proved to be nothing but a disaster managing only three wins and six draws in 13 matches. – @innocentskizoe
Online Reporter