THE Dynamos leadership yesterday said they are worried by Callisto Pasuwa’s attack on the executive led by Kenny Mubaiwa which the four-time championship winning coach accused of acting in bad faith.
The Glamour Boys are still basking in the glory of success after winning the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League championship for the fourth time in a row.
However, it appears there had been a cold war going on between Pasuwa and his superiors as the coach came short of accusing the executive of not being supportive enough in the latter stages of the campaign to find reason not to renew his contract.
Pasuwa is set to leave Dynamos at the end of the month. The coach has already made his position clear as he felt unwanted after getting no offers from his bosses despite their knowledge of the imminent expiration of his contract on December 31.
The Glamour Boys chairman Mubaiwa, however, said Pasuwa’s insinuations in a story published by The Herald yesterday were unwarranted.
The Harare businessman, instead accused Pasuwa of not being sincere.
“When we brought Callisto Pasuwa here he had no name in coaching circles. If I remember well, we were even under pressure from a large section of fans who questioned his credentials and why we had appointed him.
“But we stood with him until he won his first title and then he grew to where he is now, with four league titles. Unfortunately it seems he has forgotten the sacrifices we made and where we came with him to take the team to such heights.
“It was team work. With such a background, we cannot just wake up to say we don’t like him now, considering what he has achieved.
“But now he is the one who said I am going and we couldn’t just freeze.
“We had to move on as a team by looking for replacements since we perceived that he was already decided about his future to the extent of making it public.
“Sadly, we could not sit down with him to discuss the contract, which expires on December 31, because it appears he had made up his mind about leaving the club after announcing his position to the media.
“He did not communicate with us officially. We just heard on radio and on television and we read about it in the newspapers. And we were saying if there was a problem, he should have at least come to us and we could have discussed the issues with him rather than acting on to false suspicions.
“I believe we did our best to support him. Maybe he expected us to come and sit on the bench as well to show that we were really behind him, I don’t know. But it’s always good to maintain good relations even when one is leaving,” said Mubaiwa.
However, Pasuwa told The Herald that he was disappointed with the way the Dynamos executive handled his last days at the club this season.
The 44-year-old coach said he felt the contents of the letter from his secretary-general (Webster Chikengezha), which notified him the end of his contract, and the events towards the end of the season vindicated his decision to quit on December 31.
“I have always felt that with the difficulties that I have been experiencing and the attitude shown by the executive this season it wasn’t about winning the championship.
“Maybe winning the championship complicated things for them a bit, but I think when everyone thought we had failed, it had already given them ammunition to justify their decision to look for and talk to other coaches.
“I don’t think the letter they gave me can be considered a contract offer because it is clear that I am being treated like any ordinary man in the street who should have to wait to see when the post would be advertised and then apply for it.
“If I was someone they really wanted, I think they would have long asked that we sit down, sort my issue then discuss which areas we need to beef-up in terms of players, but that never happened and one cannot fool himself that he is still wanted by a club in such a situation,’’ Pasuwa said.
Dynamos have since advertised the coaching post and are looking to conduct the interviews before Christmas.
Pasuwa’s technical team, which included Richard Chihoro, Phillimon Mutyakureva and Tichaona Diya, has also been dissolved and they have all been asked to reapply if they are still interested to continue working with the team.
DeMbare have made it clear that they want a highly qualified coach who should possess at least a Caf A Licence badge and considerable experience of not less than three years at the top level.