Zimpapers Logo

David Mandigora

Bothwell Mahlengwe Sports Correspondent
DAVID Mandigora looks every bit like his namesake David Moyes when he took over at Manchester United after Sir Alex Ferguson left. Yogi has a huge challenge and, as we saw with Moyes, things can go horribly wrong quickly. Mandigora and his assistant Tonderai Ndiraya are familiar with the goings-on at Dynamos since they once served in the same capacities as head coach and assistant coach.

But it’s clear that Yogi is trying to fill bigger shoes than the ones he got the last time he was in the Dynamos coaching set-up.

The DeMbare family are used to winning the league year-in year-out; Callisto Pasuwa has already shown them that it can be done and the fans are unlikely to accept anything less.

The club has been champions for the past four years and any other position on the log standing at the end of the year will not be acceptable.

The fact that the new coaches replaced Pasuwa’s team means there is an expectation from their employers and the fans, too, that they can deliver something better.

That’s exactly what the fans will be expecting.

DeMbare have had the bragging rights and their fans have been spoilt over the past four years.

Highlanders and CAPS United were all beaten into submission by Pasuwa and the fans won’t expect anything less this year, with any other result likely to be deemed as failure on the part of the new coaching team.

Pasuwa struggled in the Champions League and there will be an expectation, if Dynamos return to the tournament next year, that the new coaching staff will do better.

Mandigora has been there before and took the team to the semi-finals of the CAF Champions League.

So, how does he improve that?

Taking the team into the final of the Champions League or even winning it? It’s not an easy task by any means, but that is the challenge that now lies ahead of him.

Dynamos have since lost one of their best performers last year.

Ronald Chitiyo has left for South Africa’s Mvela League (Chitiyo didn’t leave as expected). The other one, Themba Ndlovu, has gone to Harare City.

Sadly, it’s the same manner the team lost another defensive rock, Gift Belo, to FC Platinum last season.

Some new players have come on board, including some promising ones, but it’s never easy to settle, especially in a big team where the coach is also trying to settle.

Also of note is the number of players who spent more than half of the season on the sidelines because of injuries — Masimba Mambare, Devon Chafa, Tawanda Muparati, Sydney Linyama and Walter Mukanga, to name but just a few.

The fact is it won’t be a stroll in the park, but still the board, the executive and the supporters will expect the new coaches to perform and exceed Pasuwa’s achievements.

It’s a challenge and real men thrive on challenges.

But, as we saw with Moyes, the pressure can be too much for some to bear.

Pasuwa earned Dynamos a fortune last year — delivering $325 000 into the Glamour Boys’ coffers — to add to the bragging rights that come with winning the league championship for a fourth straight year.

One of the things that the domestic media has ignored, when debating the Pasuwa issue, has been the fact that he turned himself into a money-making machine for his employers.

He delivered four trophies into their cabinet; he was in five finals of the six cup finals that were played in the 2014 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League and won three.

As an icing on the cherry, he delivered the league championship, not the first, not the second and not the third, but the fourth in a row in his four-year stint as the Dynamos gaffer.

Converting that to monetary terms, Pasuwa delivered a total of $325 000.

That is, $100 000 for the league, $60 000 for winning the TM Pick n Pay Challenge Cup, $50 000 for being the losing finalists in the NetOne Cup, $45 000 apiece for the Gushungo Cup and Bob 90, $15 000 for being first round losers in the Chibuku Super Cup and $10 000 for being the Independence Trophy losing finalists.

When one takes into consideration that Pasuwa also won league titles in 2011, 2012 and 2013 and he also delivered the Mbada Diamonds Cup in 2011 and 2012, his total earnings, which he brought into the Glamour Boys’ offers, are well in excess of $600 000.

As a thank you to you Pasuwa, the Dynamos leadership chose not to renew his expiring contract.

I hope one day they will do justice and give us a plausible explanation as the board chairman and the supreme authority in the Dynamos hierarchy Bernard Marriot still owes the Dynamos family an explanation.

It’s unfortunate that he approved that the team and this very successful coach part ways.

But if there is one thing that looks certain right now, then it is that Pasuwa will return to coach the Glamour Boys sooner, rather than later; the reason being that he has now become a reference point for success at this club.

If the new experiment goes horribly wrong, then the first calls from the fans will be for the re-engagement of Pasuwa.

Even though he has said that he is taking a sabbatical to concentrate on improving his coaching qualifications, chances are that the lure of returning to the biggest job on the domestic football scene will prove too much to resist when the chance presents itself.

This article was published in The Herald on January 3, 2015. David Moyes was sacked by Manchester United after just 10 months in charge. David “Yogi” Mandigora failed to go that distance and fell after seven months.