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IF Dynamos fans have been wondering how CAPS United overhauled an 11-point deficit, last year, and turned it into a 17-point advantage over the Glamour Boys in the championship race this year, the events of the past few days might provide a clue to that spectacular transformation.Last year, DeMbare finished second in the championship race, completing the marathon 11 points ahead of the Green Machine, who finished in fifth place, in yet another miserable season of under-achievement for a CAPS side that was still trapped in a sea of mediocrity.

It had become routine for the Glamour Boys to finish ahead of their biggest city rivals, and that they had done it in nine straight seasons — from 2007 to 2015 — made it a very predictable tale that Dynamos would ultimately complete the marathon in a better slot than their city rivals.

And last year, even in a season when DeMbare failed to win the league championship, for the first time in FIVE years, they still demonstrated their superiority over their city rivals by finishing 11 points better than CAPS United — winning FOUR more league games, scoring SEVEN more league goals and conceding THREE goals less than Makepekepe. But, in a remarkable turnaround, the Green Machine overturned an 11-point deficit, in less than a year, into a 17-point advantage over their eternal rivals in one of the biggest turnarounds, in terms of head-to-head analysis between the capital’s two biggest football clubs, as CAPS United were crowned champions.

Makepekepe won SIX more league games than DeMbare, lost FIVE fewer games, scored 13 more goals and had a superior defence even though their rivals were being served in goal by the man considered our best goalkeeper today, by Warriors’ coach Callisto Pasuwa, and is set to be in goals at the Nations Cup finals in Gabon next month.

So, how did CAPS United turn it around, in such spectacular fashion, that in just under a year they didn’t only erase the 11-point deficit that separated them from Dynamos, but went on to establish a 17-point advantage over the Glamour Boys in what my mathematician friends like Spencer Manguwa, Solomon Banda and Samuel Mwale will call a 28-point turnaround?

Well, for me, the events at Dynamos and CAPS United, in the past seven days, provided a clue as to why this happened and, if I’m not wrong, might even see the gap between the two giants grow even bigger when we come to the end of the championship race next year.

Ironically, as fate might have scripted it, five-star hotels provided the setting for the two events which provided a clue to me as to why one club remains trapped to the demons of its past and the other is working tirelessly, even in a difficult operating environment, to free itself from the clutches of primitivity and embrace a future built on a solid foundation of modernity.

On Sunday, a group of Dynamos players from the generation that played for the club between 1963 and 1968, who had parcelled out positions for themselves on an imaginary board of directors the previous day, met at a Harare hotel and — as they had done the day before — parcelled out executive positions to themselves as they declared themselves the new leadership at the club.

Ernest Kamba, the Soccer Star of the Year 43 years ago, was named the leader of the executive just a day after he had been named leader of the board of directors, while George Shaya, Soccer Star of the Year in ’69, ’72, ’75, ’76 and ’77 also emerged out of those meetings, with a leadership role in the bag, to tell the country this wasn’t another meaningless boardroom coup.

Four days later, at another five-star hotel across the capital, CAPS United hosted a glitzy function, as good as they will ever come on the domestic scene, as the Green Machine not only honoured the heroes who helped them end 11 years of waiting for the league championship but, crucially, brought a number of corporate heavyweights to plead for their company ahead of the seasons to come.

Barclays Bank were represented by their managing director George Guvamatanga, who was given the honour to give medals to the CAPS United players and technical staff for their success this year, CBZ Bank, Stanbic Bank and Afreximbank were all represented by senior management staff while Delta Beverages, NetOne and Econet, Nyaradzo Group of Companies, to name but a few leading corporates, all sent high-powered delegations.

Those who spoke on Thursday night, talked about the future, how football and the corporate world could reach out to each other the way such partnerships have turned Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns into commercial heavyweights, the changing dynamics in the partnerships and the best way to handle the challenges.

And those who spoke on Sunday, at the DeMbare meeting, talked about the past, a nostalgic journey back into an era when their club was the dominant bull in the kraal with stories about how they used to rule the roost in the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s and, predictably, not mentioning how landscape had changed and things were not what they used to be back then. Where they had a George, as in Shaya, at the DeMbare indaba, where they spoke about the past, the days gone by in the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s, they also had a George, as in Guvamatanga, the Barclays managing director, at the CAPS United function, where they spoke about the future and how they could embrace partnerships, and modern trends, to grow corporate and football brands.

For me that told a big story.

A CLUB DESPERATE TO WALK WITH THE TIMES

Of course, the younger and corporate-embedded George, dressed in a matching business suit — the kind of which you see on the streets of the German city of Frankfurt which is the hub of Europe’s banking services, for Thursday night’s occasion, should know.

After all, the international arm of the bank he manages here helped the English Premiership transform itself into the most successful football league, in terms of its commercial ventures, in the world while, just across the Limpopo, ABSA, a member of the Barclays Group, have been the financial rock on which the South African Premiership has been built.

An English Premiership whose clubs can now pay its best players $300 000 a week, without blinking an eye, thanks to the US$6.22 billion deal which the league, a commercial giant unrivalled on the football terrain, which Sky Sport and BT Sport agreed to pay for the television rights of the sights and sounds of what goes on in the league.

Which, only last month, signed another US$700 million deal for the Chinese market.

And, thanks to ABSA’s partnership, obscure South African clubs like Polokwane City now even have the financial muscle to offer George Chigova the working conditions, and security, where he can raise his family better than playing for a continental giant like Dynamos and we can lose our best player last year, Danny Phiri, to a modest Super Diski club.

The best coach in the country last year, Joey Antipas, even can be tempted by a Division One club in South Africa, which has long lost its way and, possibly, its soul, simply because Amazulu — who can possibly never dream of one day playing in the CAF Champions League — can offer him better working conditions than a Chicken Inn side that played in the Champions League this year.

Nyaradzo managing director, Webster Chikengezha, also graced the function and was given the honour to give one of the awards for the winners, should also know, given that his company provided the buses which are being used by about half the Premiership clubs and have ploughed a considerable fortune into the domestic game.

That Webster is a former Dynamos vice-chairman and secretary-general, before he wisely decided to walk away from the politics at the club that was polluting his corporate image, was very revealing and that he should not only grace the CAPS United function, but give it his endorsement, amid indications of a stronger marriage between the club and the company he was representing, going forward, was quite telling.

Farai Mungazi of the BBC, a journalist who has covered 11 African Champions League finals and is now considered one of the leading voices on African football, was also there to provide CAPS United with a reality check of the challenges that lie in their path, as they seek to make a mark on the continent, next season.

And, Hannah Wright, who in her previous professional roles worked for English Premiership giants Newcastle United and in the fast lane of Formula One, a sporting franchise worth more than US$8 billion and where one sponsor, like Heineken, can pour in US$150 million, as they did this year, without blinking an eye, fittingly brought the curtain down on Thursday night as the final speaker.

The desire within the CAPS United leadership, to do more in terms of turning their club into a success story, was very evident on Thursday night and even though it cost a little fortune, in these tough times, to put together such an event at a five-star hotel, it was important, in terms of their image, and where they want to go, for them to pay that huge bill to suffer now and, hopefully, expect to reap the benefits in due course.

The club’s president, Farai Jere, who wasn’t even born when Ernest Kamba was being crowned the Soccer Star of the Year, repeatedly emphasised the need for his team to look into the future, rather than being fooled by the achievements of this year to rest on their laurels and then wait for another 11 years for the domestic league title.

He said they were set to spend another fortune, in their CAF Champions League campaign next year, but that paled into insignificance when compared to the goodwill his club will attract, simply by flying their national flag on the continent, and if his men did not share his dream that they could make waves in the tournament, then they were at the wrong club and probably should consider their future.

And, fittingly, he paid tribute to Twine Phiri, the man who started this journey when CAPS Holdings divorced the club from its units and suffered considerable financial haemorrhage just trying to keep the club running in tough times before he realised he couldn’t do it anymore and passed the baton to Jere, for providing him with priceless leadership skills.

Phiri, who was in the house seated at the top table, received a standing ovation and was handed the honour to hand over the most important award of the night, the Club’s Player of the Year, in a fitting honour to his contribution to the club.

A CLUB THAT NEEDS TO REMOVE THE CHAINS OF ITS PAST

Stephen Chisango, the goalkeeper of the CAPS United side that won the club’s first league title in 1979, was there on Thursday to grace the occasion, and was also given the honour to hand over one of the awards to the players, later describing it as one of the proudest moments of his association with the Green Machine.

Joe Mugabe, one of the greatest CAPS United players of all-time, provided an audio recording, from his base in England, to wish his old club all the best on their awards night while Andy Hodges, the chairman of the 2004 and 2005 Green Machine team which won back-to-back titles, also provided a congratulatory message, via an audio link, from his base in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The wife of Steve Kwashi, the first coach to lead CAPS United to the league championship after Independence, was also present at the function and was given the honour to hand over one of the awards in honour of her husband’s contribution to the Green Machine cause.

In sharp contrast, while the past characters in CAPS United’s journey appear ready to embrace those who are running, and playing for the club today, and wish them all the success, it’s a totally different story at Dynamos where, it appears, those who founded the club, and played for it, believe it should never escape their clutches.

Yes, Dynamos is a community team, but Pirates also used to be a community team before they saw the light and handed the club to someone who had a vision, and the financial muscle to keep it alive and successful and they have been rewarded with a CAF Champions League winners’ star and commercial success.

It’s not my job to say Kamba and his crew are wrong, or right, and there is no question they have the numbers — in terms of the former players — but as someone who has seen Black Aces go down the drain, Zimbabwe Saints now struggling somewhere in the wilderness, it pains me to realise that these old folks are failing to remove the chains of the past and embrace the future.

Yes, it might be fine to make yourselves the board of directors, but why then also make yourself the ones who run the day-to-day affairs of the club by also taking over the executive duties by appointing yourselves the chairman, vice-chairman etc, etc?

That’s giving your critics ammunition that you’re just a power-hungry people and, sadly, the domestic football world has simply moved on as if nothing happened.

Crucially, you can’t keep living in the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s Mr Kamba because the Swinging Sixties came and went, this isn’t the era of punk, people landing on the moon for the first time, 32 African countries gaining Independence from their European colonial masters, the Vietnam War, the Indo-Pakistan War, the Six-Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbours, the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Politics has moved from the era, back in the ‘60s, when leaders could be routinely assassinated — Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Che Guevara and Patrice Lumumba.

The world has since moved on from the time the first heart transplant operation was done by a South African surgeon, Christiaan Barnard, from its first interaction with the female birth control contraceptive, from watching Bonnie and Clyde, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Dirty Dozen, Doctor Zhivago and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.

From listening to the Beatles, and an Elvis Presley fresh from serving in the US army, the Four Seasons, Woodstock Festival and the first time it heard the hit song Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the so-called soundtrack of love in the summer of ’67 and, now, occasionally, Canadian singer Bryan Adams reminds us of ‘The Summer of ‘69’, how he got his “first real six-string, bought it at the five-and-dime, played it ‘til my fingers bled, me and some guys from school had a band and we tried real hard, Jimmy quit, Jody got married, I should’ve known we’d never get far, those were the best days of my life.”

That was then, this is now!

Ironically, Kamba and his colleagues appeared to forget that this year marks the 40th anniversary of that boardroom coup when the Dynamos players, led by Shepherd Murape, toppled the Morrison Sifelani leadership and took over the running of the club, bringing in young blood into this institution.

They won virtually everything on offer that year, in 1976, and having just won three league titles between ’62 and ’75, DeMbare went on to win 18 more league titles since then.

Life has to move on!

TO GOD BE THE GLORY!

Come on Warriors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Khamaldinhoooooooooooooooo!

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