‘Special One’ at Dynamos FC
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‘Special One’ at Dynamos FC

HARARE – New Dynamos coach Paulo Jorge Silva has pledged to win the Premiership title in his first season with the club but warned it will not be a stroll in the park.

Silva takes over from Tonderai Ndiraya who took charge of the team on interim basis in the dying stages of last season after taking over from former trailblazing and four-time championship winning coach Calisto Pasuwa.

The Portugal-born gaffer, who penned a three-year contract with the Glamour Boys, has a resemblance of his fellow countryman and former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho.

Silva held his first media address just before the team’s morning training session at the National Sports Stadium yesterday.

He was flanked by new assistant and former DeMbare midfielder and coach Lloyd Mutasa and team manager Richard Chihoro.

“I know a lot of things about Dynamos, I can tell you that it is a club that is 53 years old, has won 20 championships and in the last five years they were four-time champions and most importantly, this year they will be champions again,” Silva said.

“I also know the team very well, I know the players and that my assistant coach (Lloyd Mutasa) is an ex-Dynamos player, my goalkeeper’s coach (Gift Muzadzi) played here before too.”

The Portuguese’s impressive coaching CV goes as far as German where he has had stints with Aalen, Nuremberg, Greuther Furth and VfB Stuttgart and comes as an advantage to the former champions.

He has also coached Primeira Liga giants Sporting Lisbon in his home country as well as United Arab Emirates sides Al Wasl and Sharjah before venturing into Africa where he coached Ghanaian side Hearts of Oak as well as Esperance of Tunisia with COD United of Nigeria being his last assignment before joining Dynamos.

“I had about five clubs interested in my services; one in Dubai, two in China and two in Nigeria where I was recently but I came to Dynamos because I have the same mentality as that of the club president (Kenny Mubaiwa), he wants to win and I’m a winner so I will do it,” he declared.

“I’m very happy with the 29 players that I have but I’m sure my manager (Richard Chihoro) and president will try to make all things available before we come out to play. My target is to win the league and I know that I want to win.

“I know it will be tough, we have a lot of things to do but my technical team has agreed to make this promise to the fans that we will fight from the first whistle to the end for the three points.”

Dynamos assistant Lloyd Mutasa, who is returning to the club since 2011, was with the relegated Whawha side last season, said he was looking forward to working with the new coach.

“I feel honoured to be part and parcel of this great institution, especially considering the number of coaches that are around who have played for this team before,” Mutasa said.

“The coming in of Paulo (Silva) will definitely change a lot of things, especially on the professional side of things; we have to take football as a profession and when he (Silva) came here he spoke about owning our own stadium and hope this and other things will be achieved during this tenure.”

Team manager, Richard Chihoro pledged support for the team and the technical department.

“I’m positive we are going to support the technical team, I have been the best manager in the premiership in recent years, first I worked with Lloyd in 2011 then Pasuwa for four years and I’m going to give them maximum support,” Chihoro said.

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