Online Reporter
Zimpapers Sports Hub
THE recently constituted Zimbabwe Saints executive, led by Tawanda Ruzive, is already looking into the future with plans to establish a village on the land adjacent to their Queens Park East Clubhouse.
Ruzive said they want to be a futuristic executive, which thinks outside football.
He said the idea is to turn the club into a viable commercial entity able to stand on its own through investing in existing opportunities.
“The club legacy is bankable, it just needs conversion to commercial use. In this dynamic environment and times it is key to think beyond getting money through the sale of players and gate takings.
“There must be innovative ways to raise revenue to sustain the football dream,” said Ruzive.
Ruzive was appointed by the board of trustees as chairman on Saturday.
He replaces Lloyd Munhanga, who served for a year, and is credited with bringing near normalcy to the Saints family.
In the past, the club have run into trouble with ZIFA and its players when it comes to financial issues.
Ruzive said the club have a lot of land at their disposal and that they intend to come up with a Zimbabwe Saints Village to house residential facilities, a wellness centre and a shopping complex.
“Saints should not belong to history, it should be in the present and we laid a foundation last year by having a flawless season in which we were among the top contenders for the league title.
“We learnt so much from that and one big lesson was that with unity you can go far.
“There is unity at the club now. The elders have found each other, they have given us the mandate and blessings to run the club to the best of our abilities and to turn Zimbabwe Saints around.”
Ruzive said one critical aspect about Zimbabwe Saints was the coming together of feuding camps within the family.
“We are back here, the second year running, we have been given the mandate to run Zimbabwe Saints, last year, we pushed to finish all the games under the chairmanship of Lloyd Munhanga, where I was his deputy.
“The elders are tired of fights, we are now united, we are now one at Zimbabwe Saints, elders have decided to come together.”
Mathew Masinge