‘We’ve gone to the dogs’

THESE are purely my personal views, but I do strongly believe they are shared by many who love and follow Dynamos Football Club, as religiously as I do.
For me, Dynamos plays a motivational and inspirational role.
It resembles success, portrays a sense of hope and is a symbol of greatness, in terms of football, in Zimbabwe.
You know Richard, the atmosphere at Rufaro is always electrifying whenever the Glamour Boys are playing, especially agai-nst teams from other countries, and if you have witnessed the fall of continental giants, at our theatre of dreams, you would know what I mean.
What irks people like me, and of course many others, is the way the team of our hearts continues to be mismanaged.
With all due respect, Richard, you must be ashamed that despite all the fans, all the success stories, you name it, our team remains the poorest and worst managed football club in the country. Other lowly clubs, some of which are individually owned, are far better than DeMbare for, at least, they have contracted players, while Dynamos is comfortable with players that have decided to come to the club for free just to use it as a stepping stone to better lucrative leagues in Africa and Europe.
Others have used us just to bargain for better pay and conditions in the local league with NOTHING coming back to the club as a token of payment for their transfers.
Just check this list Richard.
Harlington Shereni, Stewart Murisa, Tendai Tanyanyiwa, “Chief” Justice Majabvi, Edward Sadomba, Cuthbert Malajila, Phillip “Baccossi” Marufu, Ephraim Mazarura, Mtshumayeli Moyo, Carlington Gomba, Thomas Sweswe, Dylan Chivandire, Thabani Kamusoko, Khumbulani Banda, Tafadzwa Dube, Norman Maroto, just to name but a few.
For about two to three years we helped Murisa to recover from a terrible injury, gave him a home even if he was once an enemy, and the confidence to know that he could play again but when he went, including tracing his footsteps back to South Africa, there was nothing for the club in return.
It’s not an isolated story Richard.
What did we get for Shereni, Tanyanyiwa, Majabvi, Sadomba, Malajila, Marufu, Mazarura, Moyo, Gomba, Sweswe?
Absolutely nothing, simply because of our flawed structures at the club, which give respectability to mercenaries.
Right now the end-of-season break is approaching for Europe, and other African football leagues like South Africa.
Already some of our stars like Archford “Uche” Gutu, Denver Mukamba, Martin Vengesayi etc are attracting interest from some rich clubs. How much will Dynamos get from the transfer of these players Richard?
Of course, NOTHING!
In contrast a visionary man, like Zimbabwe international defender Dominic Choto, whose club DC United owns the rights to Mukamba, is able to build a proper football structure, with contracted players, while Dynamos has nothing.
Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it?
Football is no longer as social a game as it was some 40 or so years ago when you guys were forming Dynamos Football Club.
Unlike then, when you would get everything for free, now you have to pay for the stadium, water, power, wages and salaries, medical bills and the list is endless.
For that reason it is essential to engage managers with a capacity to think outside the box and generate some revenue for the club.
Surprisingly, those progressive managers, who seemed to have the Midas Touch in your boardroom, were fired for trying to bring about professionalism in the club.
Lloyd Hove, Leslie Gwindi, Brian Kashangura, Tawanda Murerekwa, Partson Moyo, Stan Kudenga and other technocrats were either frustrated to induce them to resign or were fired for reasons best known to your board but obviously detrimental to the club’s welfare. With this kind of approach, Richard, YOU ARE LEADING US NOWHERE AND THE SOONER YOU WAKE UP THE BETTER.
We, the supporters of Dynamos, love this club so dearly and we are always ready to contribute towards our team, but we have lost confidence in you and your board Mr Chairman.
If you were to market a good project for the team today, you can be assured of my last dollar, but where will you and your board take the money Mr Chairman?
Just think about the Chazunguza bus raffle, which in all honesty was a fraud of gigantic proportions, and all the broken hearts – of the people that you call your fans and who keep this club alive – who were conned in the process?
Don’t you feel any shame Richard? Can you explain Richard why Dynamos, as a club, can’t have players who are signed on two or three year contracts? If we don’t have the players belonging to us, as is the case now, what right have we to call our team a football club?
Isn’t a football flea market, where players can be displayed and sold to the right bidder, a better term for Dynamos right now, Mr Chairman, than a football club?
If the club doesn’t have players, which it can call its own and who are on three or four-year contracts, what right do you have Mr Chairman to describe yourself as the leader of a board of directors in charge of a football team?
Which football team?
Is it the one without players?
That must be a record in the new millennium.
I believe by investing in our own players, we will be investing in our future but, simply because we want to have short-cuts all the time, where players are frustrated at the end of the season so that they move away and don’t ask for outstanding allowances and salaries and bonuses, we always find ourselves looking for players, at the last minute, on loan.
Why should we continue to provide a free marketing platform, ready to be abused by agents without a heart for our club, for their players?
Unless some people, who are within the club are benefiting, where the team is supposed to be benefiting, I can’t understand why we keep encouraging this horrible culture at our club?
It’s simple, Richard, for you to take the professional approach and you will see how things quickly fall into line.
Remember the fine run, and the sound management, during our 1998 African Champions League campaign, in which we ended up in the final of the competition?
Hove was the heartbeat of our administrative arm and, young and ambitious, he brought a professional touch. Fast forward to 2011 and we are out in the first round, our players now are booked in sub-standard lodges on trips to Bulawayo, their salaries are hard to come by, some fans have to chip in to pay for their transport to away matches and you have to get some glasses, or magnifying glass, to locate us where we are hidden on the league table. We have done it before, Mr Chairman, and it worked and our team because a football club that made all of us proud. We can do it again and all you need is to gather your courage and do what is right for Dynamos Football Club and not what is right for Richard Chiminya because Dynamos is bigger than Chiminya or the sum of all its founder members. Now is the time to act, before it’s too late, and I can assure you that we can sing again in the stands and this great Zimbabwean football club can proudly stand tall and take its place among Africa’s heavyweights.
I rest my case.
Yours In Sport
NICHOLAS RGWAMBIWA
Dynamos Fan.