adminShabanie chairman, Naphiel Rugara, revealed to The Herald that they had re-engaged Masomere as their head coach after the coach’s two-year ban was converted to a US$1 500 fine on appeal, giving him the freedom to return to the bench.
Club president, Greg Mataka, insisted that his team will stick with Masomere and remained confident that their coach will get his freedom to resume his coaching duties.
Now, Mataka’s faith has been repaid.
Masomere, who had been on the sidelines since November last year, said he wasn’t in the mood to go into a detailed account of his feelings.
“I am not excited and I am not going to say much about my suspension,” said Masomere, who won the league championship with Amazulu and came within just a home win, against Dynamos, of winning it with Masvingo United.
“I need time to cool down for a week and then we will talk.
“I do not want to say things out of excitement nor do I want to say things out of anger. Handidi kuti ndakafara kana kuti ndakatsamwa but ndinoda kumboita munhu and try to be quite.”
Last season Masomere surprised many when he guided Shabanie to a top-five finish in the 16-team league but, without the gaffer, the team has been a pale shadow of themselves.
Shabanie have so far lost to Highlanders (home), Triangle (away), Tripple B (away) and drawn at home against Dynamos.
“We have not finished the discussions with him yet but you need to remember that he is still our employee,” said Shabanie chairman Rugara.
“He is back at work training the team for our explosive clash with FC Platinum on Sunday. We had no issues with him (Masomere) and we had no powers to stop what was happening on the Asiagate scandal but we only chose to be patient and now that he is back we are very positive though we still need to iron out our internal issues.
“Our team is not bad but we just need to polish up some issues.”
In Masomere’s absence, his first assistant Arnold Jani has been holding fort while reports indicate that Elvis Muuya, another trusted member of the veteran coach’s backroom staff, is also on his way back to Shabanie.
Muuya is owed some money by the club and had turned his back on the miners but he is likely to return to the club.
“It was unfortunate that fans were calling for the removal of Jani but he had not done anything wrong. We thank him for identifying the players and training the team,” said Rugara.
“He did a very good job and he just needs the final touch. We have a lot of potential and talent no wonder why we were receiving numerous job applications.
“We are still a force to reckon with and people are going to see that on Sunday. There is pride at stake and we need to take the bull by its horns.”
Online Reporter