BY MUNYARADZI MADZOKERE
BEFORE the halfway stage of the Premier Soccer League season at least five coaches have been fired, three of them head coaches.
Local league clubs have been known to be impatient with coaches over the years and it is no surprise that there is not a single coach, who has been at a particular team for five years in the topflight.
In fact the longest serving coaches have been in charge of their teams in the Premier League since 2018 and these include Herentals’ Kumbirai Mutiwekuziva, Joey Antipas (Chicken Inn) and Herbert Maruwa (Black Rhinos).
Godfrey Tamirepi was also in his fourth year as ZPC Kariba before he was given the sack two weeks ago.
It is also important to note that had it not been for the two years of football inactivity lost to the Covid-19 outbreak the number of coaches, who have served longer at their clubs in the premiership could be smaller.
So far head coaches, Tamirepi, Rodwell Dhlakama and Philani Ncube have been fired by their clubs ZPC Kariba, Ngezi Platinum and Bulawayo City respectively.
Bulawayo Chief spared the axe on head coach Nilton Terroso and wielded it on his assistants Mark Mathe and Farai Tawachera in March following a string of poor results.
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Zimbabwe Soccer Coaches Association (Zisca) chairman Bheki Nyoni said the high turnover of coaches in the local premiership and football in general can be attributed to a lack of professional and qualified administrators which makes the working environment difficult for football trainers.
“Coaches are qualified and professional, but do we have administrators who are qualified to balance the equation?” Nyoni said.
“For the working environment to be good, both sides need to be professional, that is administrators and coaches and the two need to put 100% effort to make sure everything is on point.
“The other thing is, do our administrators really understand what brings success or do they look at coaches to do miracles?
“As we are talking a team has been winning, but administrators are failing to pay bonuses which makes the working environment bad.”
Harare giants Dynamos, who are the current log leaders, hogged the limelight last week after it emerged that they are owing their players winning bonuses dating back to last year despite the fact the salaries are being paid by sponsor Sakunda Holdings.
Another typical trend in the local league is the recycling of coaches where the same coaches move around the same clubs and sometimes end up returning to the clubs they started from.
The Zisca chief does not believe there is any recycling of coaches, but was rather excited by the fact that there are a lot of young coaches in the league.
“What do you mean by recycling coaches? The average age of coaches in the PSL is around 38 years and we cannot talk of recycling.
“Clubs all over the world hire coaches with proven records and experienced coaches fit the bill.
“We are talking of young coaches, who are doing a lot of research in football and even when they come back they are not the same having improved themselves,” he said.
Nyoni also spoke about the mandate of his association.
“As an association we are there for coaches development, understanding their value which has seen many coaches signing contracts, which are rewarding. As an association if coaches have problems with their clubs we are there to help as we have an association labour lawyer to help,” he said.
