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Please save Caps United

Opinion & Analysis
SO Taurai Mangwiro has been working without a contract at Castle Lager Premier Soccer League (PSL) club Caps United.

SO Taurai Mangwiro has been working without a contract at Castle Lager Premier Soccer League (PSL) club Caps United.

NewsDay Editorial

This is sad indeed and really all the blame should go to Twine Phiri, the club owner and the chairperson of the PSL.

We hear the players staged a sit-in before the match against Shabanie Mine on Sunday, which they eventually lost 3-1. But, unconfirmed reports say, they were told they would have to find their way back to Harare if they did not play.

When you tell that to a hungry and angry player, don’t expect results. And when you tell that to a coach, who, like the players, has not been paid for the last three months, then you are engaging in slavery and we will not support that.

Legally, according to Fifa rules and regulations, Caps United does not exist. They have failed to pay their players for three consecutive months and this makes the players free agents. Without players, there is no club.

Individually-owned clubs are under serious threat and without adequate sponsorship they will struggle, but with proper marketing strategies and adherence to club licencing statutes, something can always crop up.

We have seen AmaZulu, Gunners, Lengthens, Kiglon, Highway, Hardbody, Quelaton and Underhill crumble, and Monomotapa, Tripple B and Motor Action could soon be following suit if the owners assume the duties of chairperson, chief executive and secretary and leave no room for corporate leaders to help in the running of their clubs.

And in all this chaos, we really wonder where the Zimbabwe Soccer Coaches’ Association (Zisca) is. Is it an organisation that acts only when there are problems with their members or, first, they are supposed to ensure better working conditions for their members? In fact, we never heard Zisca say a single word in January when Caps United dismissed coach Mkhuphali Masuku on allegations that he had incited the players to revolt.

Or is it because Zisca itself is led by people who have never been in the trenches; who have never coached a club and who have no idea what it feels like to be in the dugout weekly facing the wrath of the ever-demanding fans?

When the new dispensation takes place next year, football will not want such self-serving leaders in office as interests of their members, clearly, are not being served.

We feel for Mangwiro and his assistants Saul Chaminuka and Brenna Msiska. When players went on strike we sympathised with Phiri because of the harsh economic realities and the fact that Caps, the third biggest franchise in the land, does not have a sponsor. Caps should have a sponsor, period.

The employment of a chief executive officer at the club means this was the plan, but the season is just seven weeks away from finishing and there is nothing on the ground.

And this time around, we do not want to hear anything about former club vice-president Farai Jere being mentioned. He did his part, he was frustrated and it can only be him that can reverse the decision to return to the Green Machine and no one else.