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Dynamos stunned

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DYNAMOS chairman Keni Mubaiwa said coach Kalisto Pasuwa’s abrupt resignation had caught the club off-guard and left them in a quandary

DYNAMOS chairman Keni Mubaiwa said coach Kalisto Pasuwa’s abrupt resignation had caught the club off-guard and left them in a quandary in terms of preparing for the future and they might also not take part in the Caf Champions League due to their financial position.

HENRY MHARA SPORTS REPORTER

The deadline for the registration of teams for the Champions League and the Confederation Cup is November 30 and FC Platinum, the winners of the Chibuku Super Cup, will take part in the second-tier competition.

Pasuwa, immediately after making history by guiding the Glamour Boys to their fourth straight league title following a 2-nil win over How Mine at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday, announced that he would not renew his contract which expires on December 31.

The 44-year-old joined the Dynamos bench in 2011 before leading the team to a record four successive titles.

But that hugely successful journey ended on Sunday evening when Pasuwa, in his post-match comments, announced that “he had run his race”, and that the time had come for him to move on.

Russell Madamombe and Murape Murape scored for Dynamos, but the Harare giants needed the benevolence of their city rivals Caps United who beat title contenders ZPC Kariba 3-2 in a dramatic final day of the season, to sew up the championship.

Speaking to NewsDay Sport yesterday, Mubaiwa said the announcement caught the club napping.

He said he would call for an emergency meeting this week to discuss, among other things, Pasuwa’s resignation and mapping the way forward.

“No one was expecting it, it was a bolt from the blue to tell the truth . . . we were all caught off-guard,” said Mubaiwa. “But we have heard it from the grapevine; we will meet him (Pasuwa) this week so that he can give his official position.

“As the executive, we had hoped to retain the coach because we believe he is the best on the local scene, but if he thinks his time is up, there is nothing much we can do. If the reports in the media are true that he will not renew the contract, then we will have to move swiftly and look for his successor. We will have to put Press adverts as early as this week.”

Pasuwa said the decision to quit was personal although in another subtle comment insinuated that he had been forced out of the club.

“There have been a lot of things going on in the background at Dynamos and I will not mince my words . . . this match was my last league match. My contract is expiring on December 31 and I will not renew it. It’s a personal decision and I had told my close associates way before this match that with or without the league, I was not renewing the contract,” said Pasuwa on Sunday.

Reports have suggested that Pasuwa is headed for rivals Harare City while Dynamos, on the other hand, are said to be lining up either Ian Gorowa or Taurai Mangwiro to take over at the league champions next season.

Mubaiwa refuted the reports, and instead chose to discuss more about Pasuwa’s sudden resignation and the repercussions it might have on the team.

“He had built a strong team which we thought would compete better in the Champions League, but now we are forced to look for a new coach who will start all over again. We will have to look for a coach first before we can start talking about the players we might need to add or offload for the next campaign.

“With this situation we have found ourselves in, I think it’s better for us not to compete in the Champions League next year to give the incoming coach enough time to build a strong team. We can always bounce back in 2016,” said Mubaiwa.

“The other thing is we don’t have the capacity financially to compete in Africa and unless we get a sponsor, we will have to let this chance go. We will engage our partner BancABC, who are our main sponsor, anytime soon regarding our participation in Africa. If they say they will support us as they have done in previous years, then we will participate but if they say no, then there is nothing much we can do unless another sponsor comes along and helps us,” added Mubaiwa.

Commenting on his club’s newest success, Mubaiwa said: “We are happy that we managed to lift the championship, but on reflection I think we didn’t do well as we had anticipated at the start of the season. Our points tally was very low. From a possible 90 points, we got 57, which I think was low by our high standards. Maybe it shows that the league is becoming more competitive.”