The Sunday News
Ngqwele Dube, Sports Correspondent
A SECTION of Highlanders fans has backed the move by soccer star selection panelists to snub the team’s players saying they were below par this season.
For the first time in modern day premiership football the Bulawayo giants failed to have a player among the prestigious Soccer Stars of the Year finalists, when selectors that include journalists, club captains and coaches met on Tuesday to choose the Premiership’s 2017 best.
While some felt the selection was biased, some of the club’s fans were of the view the team’s performance was pathetic and their players did not rise to the occasion. Bosso finished sixth on the log with 47 points, 25 behind champions, FC Platinum who walked away with the league with 72 points. A fan, Nqobile Moyo who said he watched many games this season was not impressed by how the team played.
“To be fair our performance as a team wasn’t good this session. I watched many (Bosso) games and I do not think any player deserves any recognition. Its a wake up call for them to improve actually. Yes, we are a big team but if we need honour and improvement we should be honest with the boys and tell them the truth about their performance instead of deceiving them by putting them where they don’t deserve to be,” he said.
Learnmore Ndlovu was also adamant the team played badly, adding the selectors were 100 percent correct. One Geshem Muradzi said the season was boring because of the bad showing by Bosso players.
Highlanders member, Nqaba Donga said there should be a seismic shift in the movement of players with the majority that made up this year’s squad being allowed to leave.
“The coach that comes in next year should start on a clean slate with most of the players’ contracts not being renewed. We should retain youngsters who should make the core of the team with experienced players coming in to beef up the team,” he said.
Gift Ncube said the poor season was a result of tolerating mediocrity for long episodes. He said Bosso has retained average players for too long and they were bound to falter without an inspiring and motivating coach.
Despite scoring seven goals for the club, Simon Munawa was inconsistent and would sometimes “disappear” during games only to emerge with a goal although this happened on too few occasions.
Highlanders struggled with their game this season only managing on one occasion to win back to back games, only doing so in the third and fourth game of the season, as they stumbled, blowing hot and cold. The inconsistent performances saw the crowds dwindling at Barbourfields as the season headed towards the end. Even a promise of winning bonuses equivalent to three matches if they had beat Caps United, on the last day of the season, failed to inspire the players as the match ended in a stalemate.
The club is in search of a gaffer to replace Dutchman, Erol Akbay who indicated he would not be renewing his contract.
