CAPS United — in a bid to reclaim yesteryear glory and plug financial problems that characterised their 2013 Premier Soccer League (PSL) campaign — yesterday appointed a seven-member board to run the affairs of the club.
REPORT BY WELLINGTON TONI SPORTS EDITOR
Caps United were plagued by serious financial problems last season, which saw industrial strikes by players and coach Taurai Mangwiro throwing in the towel at some stage, but still finished the season at a respectable fifth place to qualify for the BancABC Sup8r competition next year.
Earlier in the season, they had lost the NetOne Charity Shield to Chicken Inn by a 3-2 margin in the final at Mandava Stadium in Zvishavane.
The last time the club had a board was during the Andy Hodges era and were rewarded with a league title under Charles Mhlauri in 2004.
Since then, they have been nowhere in the league race and instead fought relegation at some stage, surviving after only beating Highlanders 4-0 on the last day of the season.
The board will be chaired by club owner Twine Phiri, who is also the PSL chairman — while Joe Makuvire remains the chief executive officer.
Advocate Lewis Uriri, a well know figure in local football circles, will be in charge of the secretariat, while Tutisani Nhamo will take care of the marketing, branding and public relations portfolio.
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Khumbulani Mhlophe will be in charge of the commercial interests of the club while Alex Munyaka is the board member responsible for internal stakeholders. Medical practitioner Mordecai Sachikonye and Munyaradzi Mazhande will be in charge of sporting activities and systems respectively.
Announcing the board yesterday, Phiri said their major thrust was to run the club as a professional business entity and ensure the club fights for honours next season.
“We want to run the club as a business and as you can see we have different portfolios designed to drive the club forward. We hope this will assist in the harnessing of funds that the club needs as we go forward and this is why we have started our preparations early.
“We also want to attract fans by playing good football and being the best administered club in the land. We have made it clear to coach (Mangwiro) that we want to fight for honours next season, but we will not stand in the way of players who want to leave. Most of our players are still contracted to the club,” Phiri said.
He added: “As you know, I wear two hats, the other being that of the PSL chairman, so I want to make sure that we have a board that will take care of the administration of the club on a daily basis. These are very serious businesspeople who will not want to be seen to be failing.”
Players like Warriors midfielder Hardlife Zvirekwi have been linked with a move to Champions League participants Dynamos, while goalkeeper Tafadzwa Dube is unsure of his future.
How Mine, who will be representing Zimbabwe in the Confederations Cup next season, have also made enquiries about three of Caps United players — Tawanda Nyamandwe, Tapiwa Khumbuyani and Tendai Samanja.
