HIGHLANDERS’ coach Madinda Ndlovu says winning silverware will also be high up his priority list, although his main mandate at the Bulawayo giants is to restore the club culture of promoting juniors into the senior team.
BY FORTUNE MBELE
Bosso play their last preparatory match against Division One side Masvingo United at Mucheke Stadium tomorrow ahead of their league opener against Black Rhinos at Barbourfields Stadium next weekend.
Since he assumed the reigns at the club, Ndlovu has prioritised giving young players an opportunity in the team with most of them promoted from the junior structures. Given the circumstance, many of the club’s supporters naturally are not expecting much from the team this season.
But for Ndlovu, he has seen a lot of potential from his players in the pre-season games they have played and is confident that they are good enough to fight for honours. They beat Caps United and Chicken Inn, drew against new boys Nichrut, and lost to Dynamos, performances that left the coach impressed.
“Inasmuch as we are talking about restoring that legacy at Highlanders, we also would like to win things. We definitely want to win silverware. You win some and lose some, but at the end of the day we are in a competition to win. We will compete to win but we are not under any pressure or have we set ourselves any target to say we must win league and all cups. We don’t want to put unnecessary pressure on the youngsters,” Ndlovu said.
“Our objective is to bring back Highlanders’s culture, but that does not mean that we should build a team that does not win championships. It meant that we should be able to respect the other age groups within the system, so it is of paramount importance that we should promote our own players that we develop so that it is easier to play within the framework of the club’s culture.
“We don’t want to be in the league just to be there. The idea is to start now to build up a strong side that will also bring silverware to the club in the future. It can be now while I am here, as we have started that process or it can be after I have left and the other coach comes in and finds the players mature and wins. It’s not a short term thing, but a long process. But what is very important is what we want Highlanders to be like, how we want Highlanders to play and that is part of my mandate; to put together a philosophy that will be followed in the years to come.”
