NOW you can’t see me, now you can! This is the rollercoaster life of Moses Chunga who, on Sunday, turned his back on Castle Premiership football side Chiredzi FC only to make a spectacular mid-air somersault yesterday declaring he will not leave his “baby”.
KENNETH NYANGANI SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
The nomadic coach says his Lowveld project is not yet ripe.
Chunga abruptly resigned from his post in a heated meeting with his club’s executive two days ago after they failed to iron out their differences.
The problems started almost two weeks ago after Chunga was accused of disappearing with $4 000 from the gate takings after the Dynamos match at Chishamiso Stadium.
A source close to Chunga said the nomadic gaffer reversed his decision after stakeholders and the Chiredzi community begged him to continue with the project.
According to the source, Chunga said some players were committed to play in the Lowveld because of him and that he had already relocated his family there.
“Chunga said he was not going anywhere because the Chiredzi community had approached him to change his decision. The major thing is that he has relocated his family to Chiredzi,” he said.
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“But I can assure you that Chunga is ready to work with the current executive, we are just waiting to see how all the issues are going to handled.”
Sought for comment on his decision yesterday, Chunga referred all questions to the club’s vice-chairman Joel Sithole, whom he was with at the time NewsDay Sport made the call.
Chunga said: “You are lucky I have the vice-chairman of the team Joel Sithole here, I want you to speak to him, he can update you.”
Sithole said: “I am worried about what I saw in the newspapers today (yesterday). I don’t know where you get the stories from, it’s amazing.”
Chunga then weighed in: “I have never liked the issue of sources. Some executive members do not want to come out in the open. I don’t know why. What they don’t know is they are also public figures.
“They have been accusing me, but the truth shall come out. I think you know the history of this team, you know where we started, even some executive members have not even approached the community.”
Chiredzi chairman Charles Muchatukwa was not reachable for comment.
A Chiredzi FC executive member who refused to be named claimed he was not aware that Chunga had made a U-turn, saying: “If there is something that has happened I am still to get it.”
If Chunga leaves the club, the Lowveld-based side will face a mass player exodus as Norman Maroto, Fidelis Mangezi and Abel Gwatidzo are known to be the coach’s most trusted lieutenants.
Yesterday morning there were early indications that Chunga’s assistant Tinashe Zvishiri, who is a teacher at Hippo Valley Secondary School, was going to be thrown in at the deep end to lead the struggling outfit.
The Chiredzi outfit is currently anchoring the log table after collecting just six points from their opening 10 matches.
While Chunga, who is regarded as a director at Chiredzi FC, was putting his house back in order yesterday, his neighbour Biggie Zuze was preparing to vacate the hot seat at troubled Triangle. A meeting was scheduled for last night between the coach and the club’s executive after the team’s sixth loss of the season which left them in 14th place on the log standings.
A source at Triangle told NewsDay Sport last night: “I have just received a message saying that we should meet later in the day to discuss the way forward because results are not coming. I think the coach will probably go, but you never know what the leaders of the team are going to say, but it is now difficult.”
“At the start of the season we said we needed at least 10 points from the first five matches, but that has not been so. There were two games in between, but the last three games we said he should collect at least six points from three matches, but he failed again.”
Triangle chairman Lovemore Matikinyidze was not available for comment yesterday.
