The Sunday News
BEING a community football club that has one of the biggest followings in the country, Highlanders FC’s woes are likely to be the talking point of its fans whenever it undergoes a bumpy ride and the recent appalling, erratic form displayed by the team has elicited various views from many quarters in the Bosso family.
This week the media was awash with reports of a rift in Bosso’s technical bench being one of the causes of the poor form experienced by the club, which seems to be buckling at a critical stage of the championship race and the team has fallen four points behind defending champions and log leaders Dynamos.
There were also unsubstantiated rumours that the executive could be making changes to the technical team.
Last week’s 1-0 loss to Harare City brought about calls for change in the technical department with a section of the club’s fans blaming coach, Kelvin Kaindu, for failing in his job while others felt there was no harmony in the technical bench resulting in some players being used to sabotage the team.
Other fans blamed the team’s players for not being dedicated while also failing to play their hearts out when donning the famous black and white jersey.
Highlanders member and losing candidate for the vice-chairmanship position at the Bosso last elections Frank Moyo has waded into the debate saying the Peter Dube led executive erred by not consulting Kaindu when they appointed his lieutenants.
Moyo said it was imperative for a coach to have a say in who he will work with in the technical department to ensure there were no divisions at the club.
At the beginning of the year when Bosso renewed Kaindu’s contract they brought in a new assistant coach, Mark Mathe, goalkeepers coach, Peter “Oxo” Nkomo while Willard Khumalo was retained as manager.
Former assistant coach, Bekithemba Ndlovu and former goalkeepers’ coach, Tembo Chuma’s contracts were not renewed.
“I know there have been many things that have been said about the problems going on at Highlanders, but I feel the executive erred when they made a decision in the absence of the head coach and appointed his assistants, people he is expected to work well with but whom he did not have a say in their hiring.
“We have seen these things happen in other teams where there would be a rift between a coach and his assistants and it affects the way the team performs,” said Moyo.
Moyo also took a swipe at the players saying they do not have the team at heart and that it was critical for the coaches to find a way of elevating Highlanders juniors into the senior team.
“I know there is a need to balance expectation and develop junior players but it seems right now the coaches are under pressure to win something hence they are just buying instead of taking time to develop young players from the junior ranks.
“We need those youngsters because they grew up in the Highlanders system and I believe they will put in a 100 percent effort when they are promoted to the senior team,” he said.
Highlanders have not won the league since 2006 and Kaindu is hard pressed to deliver the title this year, his third year in charge at the Bulawayo giants, with many fans calling for his ouster in the event that the team fails to clinch the coveted Premier Soccer League title.
Speculation is rife that there is a rift within the technical bench leading to failure to unite the players.
