Bulawayo City to promote juniors

20 Jan, 2019 - 00:01 0 Views
Bulawayo City to promote juniors Jerry Sibanda

The Sunday News

Ngqwele Dube, Sports Correspondent

BULAWAYO City FC will elevate their juniors to the senior team in their campaign to make a quick return to the Premiership after the axe fell on them last year.

City will be playing in the Southern Region Division One League this year but they will have their eyes fixated on the championship to ensure they emulate Hwange and make it back to the top flight in just one season.

Chairman, Jerry Sibanda said they will be turning to the under 18 and under 20 sides after losing several players following their relegation.

Sibanda said they are in the process of finalising contracts with the players and the coaches before making pre-season plans.

Players that have left the Bulawayo City Council-owned side include; Rainsome Pavari who has joined league champions FC Platinum, Sipho Ndlovu who crossed to city rivals, Chicken Inn, goalkeeper, Munyaradzi Diya who is reportedly headed for Dynamos, Toto Banda, Timothy January and another shot stopper, Wellington Muuya who is rumoured to be heading for Highlanders.

Sources at the club indicated several other players could be leaving the club as they are yet to renew their contracts.

“We are negotiating with players at the moment to see who will stay but we are not really worried about who is going because this year we will be promoting our juniors from the under 18 and the under 20 teams who will make the bulk of the squad.

“We have invested a lot in junior development and we believe there are several players who are now ready to make it to the senior team and we feel they can carry us through in our D1 campaign,” said Sibanda.

He revealed they intend retaining the services of head coach, Bekithemba “Super” Ndlovu and other members of the technical department adding they are engaging them over tenure extensions.

Ndlovu took over from Amin Soma-Phiri last but failed to keep the side in the top flight as they finished third from bottom.

Despite initially struggling after taking over, Ndlovu guided Amakhosi to five wins in their last seven matches with the other two matches ending in draws but it was a little too late.

Sources, however, revealed the player exodus has not gone down well with Super who is rumoured to have been offered a position at Highlanders.

Sibanda said they are confident of making it back to the elite league in just one season.

“We just want to do like Hwange,  they managed to stay just a season in Division One and we believe it’s possible. Remember as we headed to the premiership we only stayed one year in Division One, it is something we know how to do and I think we are going to do it,” he said.

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