Bambo blasts football leaders
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Bambo blasts football leaders

OUTSPOKEN coach Moses “Bambo” Chunga has fired a broadside at the domestic football leadership in the wake of a public fallout between Dynamos coach Callisto Pasuwa and his employers.

Chunga played a central role in persuading both parties to agree on a three-year deal when talks to tie down the coach appeared to have had stalled at the end of the 2011 season.

Bambo then was acting in his capacity as chairman of the Zimbabwe Soccer Coaches Union.

The outspoken gaffer yesterday said he had “wanted to avoid meddling in the Dynamos issues” but felt there was need to air his views.

“What I know in football is that if your bosses know that your contract is coming to an end, and they don’t offer you a new deal, it means you are not wanted,” said Chunga.

“If they still want you in their structures, they will not hesitate to negotiate with you, even six months before the expiry of that contract.

“I am saying let’s be transparent and be open with each other. Communication is very important because as professionals, coaches also need to plan ahead.

“So, in this case, I would agree with my brother Pasuwa that the silence from the bosses spoke the loudest.

“But if you had asked me I would have told you that I saw it coming. It was something that was expected because their relationship, since the time of the PSL elections, has not been that rosy. There were fights going on there.”

Pasuwa and his technical team of Philemon Mutyakureva, Tichaona Diya and Richard Chihoro will leave at the end of the month.

Dynamos have since advertised the vacancy in the newspapers.

Chunga, who has been a long-time critic of football administration in the country, also fired a broadside at the game’s leadership.

He said coaches – from club level to national team – were getting a raw deal from the administrators.

“What happens with our domestic game is that usually they (the leadership) give the coach lemons and then ask him to produce orange juice,” said Chunga.

“It’s impossible.

“What is even more disturbing is that even when the coach somehow beats the odds, still they don’t appreciate his efforts.

“If it’s success, then that’s when you hear them talking about teamwork and all sorts of positive things to get a share of the credit but when the team fails the blame comes back to one person, the coach.

“That’s the calibre of the leaders we have. They don’t want to shoulder responsibility. I don’t think some of them are even qualified enough to run a football team.

“As much as things are happening at Dynamos, I think our game as a whole need to be exorcised of bad leadership.

“We have seen problems at the national team, CAPS United and at Highlanders as well.

“I have said it before that some of the administrators that we have are now past the stage of advanced ignorance because they think they know everything about football yet they have partial knowledge or they know nothing at all.

“That’s the tragedy we find ourselves in as a country.”

Chunga said he believed in the football talent in this country.

“I believe we have the talent and we also have capable coaches but the challenge is with the people at the top. Some of them are there because of money yet they know nothing about the game.

“Football needs passion and people with practical experiences. I have always said that money cannot think for you.

“Again, if the passion for sports does not run in your blood, money cannot do anything to change that.

“I have heard people singing praises for the likes of Zambia’s Kalusha Bwalya but here we have people with no football background running the game.

“They are too smart to ask for simple advice from former players who have been through it all. There are many former footballers who can contribute ideas.

“The problem is they want to feed their selfish egos,” said Chunga.

The Zimbabwe football legend said, because of the challenges facing the game’s leadership, footballers will always be pushed into the shade.

“It beats me that a chairman or chief executive of a football club gets so much space on the back pages of the newspapers every day at the expense of the players.

“I think this only happens here in Zimbabwe where the management, which should be operating behind the scenes, get all the spotlight, yet the players are relegated to the background.

“As a result these guys in management end up thinking that they are bigger than the game itself.

“If I may ask you, how many times do you see the Chelsea or Manchester United bosses in the newspapers?

“It’s Mourinho and his players all the time, isn’t it? But here it’s the opposite,” said Chunga.

 

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