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Robson Sharuko and Makomborero Mutimukulu

AN explosive leaked audio recording of a conversation involving some Dynamos players, as they drove home on Sunday night in the mist of their Harare Derby meltdown, paints a graphic picture of a fragmented club being torn apart by deep divisions and a sensational breakdown of trust between some players and members of their coaching staff.The misfiring Glamour Boys leaked three goals, in the final eight minutes of their showdown against Makepekepe to surrender what had looked like a winning position, as they settled for a 3-3 draw against their biggest city rivals.

DeMbare head coach Lloyd Mutasa suggested some of the players might have sabotaged the club, failing to play to his instructions in the final laps of that battle, as their efforts to cheer the deflated spirits of their supporters after a largely miserable season failed the test in spectacular fashion on Sunday.

But we can reveal that a fascinating conversation by some DeMbare players on their way home on Sunday paints a horrifying picture of a club reeling from serious cracks, the lack of trust among the players themselves, a breakdown of trust between some players and members of their technical staff and explains why the Glamour Boys are in such a hole.

We have confirmed that Valentine Ndaba, who was introduced in the last 10 minutes of that showdown against the Green Machine, is one of the players who feature in the conversation and as of late last night, we couldn’t confirm the identity of the other players although from the recording it appears there were at least three players in that vehicle.

Another man, who is clearly a Dynamos fan and very close to the players and appeared to be driving the vehicle, featured prominently in the conversation which lays bare the chaos at the country’s biggest football club with the players saying:

Team manager Richard Chihoro was not fit for the job and dismissing him allegedly as “a n’anga and snake who can’t be trusted and will never help us.”

Assistant coach Murape Murape was a vindictive individual who not only did not have the qualifications for the job and whose theatrics, especially on the occasions they scored a goal, were an insult to the profile expected from a man who should be holding such a very influential role.

Mutasa was a very good coach whose leadership of the club’s technical team should be extended, so that he gets time to build his team, but needed a competent assistant coach who had better qualifications than Murape and who conducted himself in a professional way.

They expect the Dynamos leadership to hang on to Mutasa, to take charge of the team come next season, because the Glamour Boys did not have the money to hire a better coach.

The club’s recruitment of young players, including schoolboys and those who were at colleges, was not premised on a strategy to build a team based on youth but one that had been forced upon the leadership by the club’s lack of funds.

Rodreck Mutuma might be a wayward individual, but they feel, and have been telling their coaches, he is the only good striker at the club today and freezing him out of the team, because of his conduct, had cost them points throughout the season.

Their recommendations to their technical team that Mutuma should be punished by fines and other penalties, which would erode his earnings and force him to behave rather than keeping him out of the team at the detriment of their fortunes, had fallen on deaf ears.

Some of the players at the club were an inferior crop who were just content on hitting long and aimless balls into the opposition area and did not trust themselves to even keep possession and play the ball on the ground.

The meltdown against CAPS United was caused by a desperate crew of players who only wanted the ball to be pumped into the Green Machine half at a time when keeping possession and denying CAPS United the ball would have seen them easily defend their three-goal lead.

The substitutes were surprised to enter a cauldron where the players who had been on the field simply didn’t want to keep the ball and just needed to pump it into the opposition half.

“Ko passing iya yatinoitiswa na coach ndeyei, yokumaka triangle, but manje tapinda mu ground vanhu havachada kutamba bhora,” one of the players says.

“Ko possession yatomboitiswa yekunopresser uko ndeye, waiziva, exercise iya ye pressing muri six by four waiziva, handiti ndeyekuchengeta bhora?

“Vanhu varamba kuchengeta bhora asekuru, ini ndada kutacha tacha ndapinda, ndichitacha first bhora rangu so, vanhu vakupopota zvikanzi hatisi kuda bhora iroro, ndizvo zvatidyisa bhora, bhora harirohwe kumberi, the best way to keep possession . . . the best way to delay is to keep possession, simple, simple football.

“Munhu aifanirwa kubuda paye ndi Zato (Dominic Mukandi), Zato atotaura kudhara achizvuva makumbo, vanhu vanotya bhora, vanotya kuita ma mistakes, vanohwanda.”

Their companion that accuses Mukandi of being a player who plays casually and costs the team on a number of occasions and says CAPS United, whose defence comes in for some fierce criticism in the discussion, had already given up with most of their defenders staying in the DeMbare area.

Then, one of the players brings in the difference in the two teams’ technical benches.

“But ndopaunozoona kuti bhora, sometimes Father, tarisa ma technical (coaching staff), inokuudza result, technical inokuudza kuti team iyo yakasimba or haina. Compare the technical ye opposition ne yenyu zvinokutaurira kuti bhora level yenyu muripapi, ndiri kunyepa here Vale?

“Haungati Lloyd (Chitembwe) arikuasistwa ne munhu anenge (Mark) Mathe handiti, woti iwewe wedu isu coach Lloyd wo asistwa na Murape, takatodyiwa, besides munhu wokuti bhora mukagowesa ano celebrator achirova matackle muground, zvaanga achiita zviye izvi, as a leader anenge achingo slider, achiti woooo, maplayers ozoita zviri pompous, zviri dubious, unovatuka here father pakadaro?

“Unovatuka sei? Wotamba ma jive, referee anokutsuura ka 50, siyana nezvaurikuita, siyana nezvaurikuita, woramba uchizviita, but ari iye Murape achikutsuura, woramba uchingodzokorora, Maiwee, anokutsvaira mu team, unotukwa zviisingaite.”

Ndaba says he had a problem with Murape after some fans questioned why he was given just a few minutes against Highlanders and when he responded, the assistant coach could have nothing of that.

Their companion then asks if they have raised some of these issues with their leaders, including team manager Chihoro.

“Aaah, manager, haasi manager, in’anga, Chihoro haungamuudze nyaya dzakadaro. Ndosaka achinzi snake, Chihoro haazivikanwe paari, ane makuhwa.”

Ndaba then tells his colleague he was considering leaving the club because he couldn’t work under the conditions prevailing at the club.

They then turn to Mutuma, whom they say is a wayward individual, but who needs to be helped by the club because he could have changed their season, if he hadn’t been frozen out of the team for his indiscipline by the technical team instead punishing him with fines.

However, they all seem to have a lot of respect for Mutasa whom they describe as a very good coach who only needed a good assistant to deliver the kind of performances that saw them take a 3-0 lead against CAPS United.