Highlanders accepted the Wicknell Chivayo offer simply because the club is broke and cannot afford a coach from their own pockets.
The club was never arm twisted or pushed into accepting Benjani Mwaruwari as club coach in exchange for Wicknell Chivayo’s cash, but Chivayo just placed an offer which Bosso had a choice to either accept or reject.
In fact, the story is that Highlanders were looking for a coach and Chivayo — as one of their sponsors — told them he was willing to pay for the coach's salary as long as that coach was Mwaruwari.
Initially Bosso rejected the offer, but made a U-turn in what was viewed as an act of desperation from an institution that is no longer able to stand on its own feet.
"While the club believes (Chivayo) acted with the best interest of the club at heart, the club would like to remind its stakeholders that there are processes and procedures in place that speak to the hiring of technical and playing staff," read a statement from Bosso in turning down the Chivayo offer.
However, after realising that their pockets were not as deep as they thought, the club retraced their steps and went back to Chivhayo.
What we don't understand is why Highlanders were looking beyond the Zimbabwe borders for a coach for 2026 when they did not have the money to pay the coach's salary
Right now, Bosso have been dragged to Fifa by their 2025 coach Pieter de Jong who claims he is owed money for services rendered throughout the year.
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Happily, the club is holding its AGM today, of which one of the issues on discussion is its finances and the way forward.
However, there are some within the Highlanders community who feel that the club should not have accepted the Chivayo offer.
They argue that Bosso' acceptance of the offer and its conditions exposes Highlanders to more conditions from Chivayo and other sponsors in future.
However, there are many who feel that - at the moment - the Chivayo arrangement is the best deal for the popular Bulawayo side.
On top of paying Mwaruwari's salary, Chivayo has pledged to fund the team's pre-season training camp as well as finance the acquisition of new players.
This puts Highlanders in a more stable financial condition as they will also receive funding from Betterbrands and Sakunda Holdings who for long have been the team's principal sponsors.
The onus is now on Mwaruwari to justify the faith placed on him by Chivayo and also to prove all the critics wrong as there are many who question his coaching ability.
Benjani should be told that Chivayo paid the salaries of national team coaches Sunday Chidzambwa, Kalisto Pasuwa, and Shadreck Mhlairi and they did not disappoint.
After what happened at Ngezi Platinum Stars, failure at Highlanders will not do any good to his reputation.
