NEWLY-promoted Premier Soccer League side Simba Bhora Football Club has confirmed that it is considering to rope in Tonderai Ndiraya as head coach to replace Arthur Tutani.
Ndiraya will be out of work come next month after his club Dynamos announced earlier this week that they will not renew his contract when it expires on December 31.
Ndiraya will not be short of suitors in the local league when his deal expires and the ambitious Simba Bhora are already making plans to persuade him to relocate to their base in Shamva.
The club has been forced to look for a new coach because Tutani who guided them to promotion does not possess the requisite CAF A licence needed to coach in the premier league.
"We are shopping for a coach and Ndiraya fits the bill of a person that we are looking for," Simba Bhora secretary-general Taurai Janhi told NewsDaySport yesterday.
"He is a very good coach, one of the best in the country, if not the best, and he is the kind of person who can take this club forward. Our aim is to do well in the league and we believe a coach of his calibre can help us achieve our goals."
Janhi said they are yet to start negotiations with Ndiraya.
"No communication has happened between us and Ndiraya because he is still contracted to Dynamos. He is a Dynamos coach and we respect that. Once his contract expires, then we will try to negotiate. But he is not the only one we are considering. Like I have said we are shopping for a coach, so we have a number of candidates on our list, and he is one of them," added Janhi.
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Simba Bhora Football Club, owned by mining mogul Simbarashe 'Buju' Ndoro, secured league promotion after winning the Zifa Northern Region Division One league.
Meanwhile, Ndiraya has said he does not have any hard feelings with Dynamos after they decided against renewing his contract.
The former midfielder guided the club to a respectable third-place finish in his second season with the club.
He joined the club in 2019 when they had just survived relegation and helped them to finish 9th on the log standings.
The Premier Soccer League failed to take off in 2020 due to COVID-19.
His club started the just-ended season well and at one point looked favourites to clinch the title, but the coach was suspended when they were top of the log, for alleged insubordination.
DeMbare never looked to recover from that blip as they went on to surrender an eleven-point lead to finish 17 points behind champions FC Platinum.
It has since emerged that his suspension had nothing to do with his conduct, but was a result of vicious infighting in the executive which has also since cost chairman Isaiah Mupfurutsa his job.
Mupfurutsa was a staunch believer in Ndiraya and wanted to give the coach more time to prove himself.
"Ndiraya is warmly indebted to the Dynamos FC executive committee for the fantastic opportunity they availed him to coach Zimbabwe's biggest football club franchise, popularly (known as) the Glamour Boys," said Ndiraya's business manager Gerald Maguranyanga in a statement yesterday.
"While the final position three of 18 achieved by Dynamos FC on the PSL log was not glorious, it is also not abject failure considering the prevailing difficult conditions of service at Dynamos FC. Ndiraya takes pride in his devoted professional approach to coaching, notwithstanding the terrain. It is the same never-say-die attitude Ndiraya, beloved as a midfield dynamo at the club, will take into his unfolding, promising future. Dynamos FC is ultimately bigger than any one person, player, coach, executive or even any founding board member. 'Chazunguza' will one fine day find her feet as was in the glorious days of old. Ndiraya sincerely wishes the club all the best in 2023."
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