The Sunday News
Ngqwele Dube, Sports Correspondent
IN the business world they say image is everything and how you dress would most certainly make an impression on others, whether it is your colleagues or your rivals.
It is said people judge you on your dressing and it determines their attitude towards you. Dressing, some say, also determines your mood and attitude towards your work while some don’t take dressing to mean anything but just a means of being decent in public.
While the appointment of Highlanders caretaker coach, Amini Soma-Phiri was met with divided opinion, Bosso fans have been united in questioning and ridiculing his match day dressing.
Most coaches in the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League prefer wearing team jerseys and track bottoms but Soma-Phiri has opted for a suit, taking a leaf from European managers who more often than not are seen wearing a suit and tie.
However, Soma-Phiri’s suit, emblazoned with the Highlanders logo, appears not to sit well on him with sleeves overlapping up to his hands and the jacket dropping below his shoulders.
Lack of a turnaround of fortunes at the club since his arrival has not helped matters as most fans have turned their attention to his “oversized” suit, taking it as an object of ridicule.
Most local coaches would decide to put on a suit on match day, in most cases when the matches are beamed live on television but Soma-Phiri has taken it to all the three games he has been in charge of so far.
At the match against Flame Lily at Barbourfields, Soma-Phiri’s shirt ended up untucking leading to some fans questioning why he did not simply wear a team jersey and tracksuit.
“Highlanders is a big brand, we can’t have the coach shabbily dressed like this,” quipped one fan.
On being asked why he was not taking the suit to the tailors for alterations, Soma-Phiri said he felt comfortable in it and could not entertain any further questions on the matter.
“It is alright, don’t ask me another question on that, you can ask about anything else,” Soma-Phiri curtly said.
Soma-Phiri was ridiculed for his suit with fans questioning his dressing on social media platforms such as Whatsapp and Facebook.
One Bosso fan, Patrick Ndlovu joked whether it was a jacket for a burial society while Rueben Maphosa felt the club’s failures had been extended to the dressing front.
