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Lloyd Mutasa

Petros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor
HARARE giants Dynamos believe they are beginning to reap the fruits of a bold rebuilding exercise they undertook and insist unity within the executive, the board of directors and the players will be the hallmark to a successful turnaround of the club’s fortunes. After a shaky start to the season during which they even contemplated sacking coach Lloyd Mutasa, Dynamos have found their rhythm and forced their way back into the reckoning for the championship title.

Club president Kenny Mubaiwa, flanked by his deputy Solomon Sanyamandwe, secretary Webster Marechera and the board of directors pair of Bernard Marriot and Owen Chandamale revealed yesterday that they had resolved to take a united front to help their team achieve success in the Premiership, which they last enjoyed under Callisto Pasuwa in 2014.

Dynamos’ experiment with a little-known Portuguese coach Paulo Jorge Silva at the start of last year set the tone for a disastrous season, which was later characterised by an exodus of players notably to such clubs like Ngezi Platinum.

Mubaiwa and his management now believe they have learnt their lessons.

“There have been some rumours that there are divisions in the executive, but as club president I don’t know anything to that effect because I do not have a problem with anyone in our executive. We actually have a unity of purpose at the club and we are gearing for the second half of the season as a united team.

“After our game against Chicken Inn, there had been some rumours that my deputy Solomon Sanyamandwe had quit, but that is not true, he remains a part of us and he is not only my deputy, but he is also an understudy and there is nothing wrong with having an understudy. He never wrote any resignation letter to anyone either.

“So far our rebuilding exercise is 60 percent complete. We are not going to put pressure on the coaches to win the championship, but it if happens that we win the title it will be a bonus and it will mean a return to the Champions League where we believe we belong,’’ Mubaiwa said.

He attributed some of the stability they are enjoying to the fact that they had assembled a bunch of youthful players who had committed to the Dynamos cause beyond just one season.

“Apart from being united as administrators, our vision at the moment is to build a Dynamos that can last for years.

“Our aim is to see how far this team goes, but at the same time we are really eager to return to the Champions league.

“Unlike in the past all our players now have a minimum two-year contracts and most of the players we negotiated with them directly because in the past their agents would influence them into signing for just one year.

“So there is a renewed hunger for success in the team that we have,” Mubaiwa said.

Youthful administrator Sanyamandwe, who has regularly offered incentives to the DeMbare players even before his appointment to the executive, also spoke of his desire to help the Harare giants win honours.

“We are working well in the club, but I have noted that there are some outside forces that always want to sow some seeds of division.

“When we give money to the players, it will be part of a collective effort and that doesn’t mean I have any ambitions to topple the president.

“In fact, outside of Dynamos affairs I have always interacted with Mubaiwa in business circles,” Sanyamandwe said.

Chandamale also chipped in and indicated that appointments to the Dynamos executive were done in consultation with the existing management crew.

“We brought Solomon on the recommendations of the executive because the board just doesn’t impose people, we consult the executive so that there is teamwork at the club,” Chandamale said.

Board chairman Marriot said his club would continue to stand guided by the ownership structure at the Glamour Boys.

Marechera said Dynamos’ income had been affected by a decline in crowd attendance, which the DeMbare secretary attributed to “the economic challenges being experienced in the country and the fact that Rufaro which is easily accessible to the bulk of our supporters has been closed for a long time.

“We had even hoped to have Rufaro back in time for the derby, but the derby (against CAPS United) was postponed and the stadium is also still to be opened. So hopefully by July 30 when we play Triangle at home we can be able to return to Rufaro.

“Financial constraints continue to be our challenge because unlike other company owned teams ours is more community-based and we rely heavily on gate takings and that is why we were the first team to introduce night matches for all our midweek games and I must say there has been a slight improvement in the attendance figures for the night games.

“But as the president has pointed out, the unity that we currently have has been key to our progress which has also seen us overcome a slow start and along the way we also weathered pressure to change coaches,’’ Marechera said.