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Eddie Chikamhi and Takudzwa Chitsiga
TAURAI Mangwiro has made his move and settled for the tranquillity at Harare City, instead of the volatility at league champions Dynamos, with the gaffer set to be unveiled today as the new Sunshine Boys’ head coach.

Barely a week after leaving CAPS United, following a very trying season in which he was targeted by some of the club’s unruly fans despite taking the Green Machine to their best position in the championship race in five years, Mangwiro has found a new home.

He dumped the Green Machine, with two years left on his contract, and was the odds-on favourite to replace Callisto Pasuwa at Dynamos, a team that he played for, with the Glamour Boys chairman Kenny Mubaiwa describing him as a credible candidate for the job.

But Mangwiro has chosen Harare City, who endured a turbulent season in which they fought relegation until the final game of the season and will replace another former DeMbare son, Masimba Dinyero, who was in charge of the team in the second half of the season.

Dinyero will remain with the Sunshine Boys although he will now take care of the club’s junior teams whose players will be recruited from all council-owned schools before being taken to the academy and eventually the senior team.

The Herald has it on good authority that Mangwiro has signed a three-year deal with Harare City and his mandate will be to turn the Sunshine Boys into a competitive team once again.

Mangwiro will take his entire CAPS United backroom staff to Harare City with Mike “Dread” Madzivanyika coming in as his assistant, while Richard Tswatswa, who is an employee of the Harare City Council, will be the goalkeepers’ coach.

Madzivanyika and Tswatswa resigned from their CAPS United posts on the very same day that Mangwiro threw in the towel.

Team manager Luis Maio, who had developed a good working relationship with Mangwiro this season at CAPS United, could also follow him to Harare City.

The Harare City team manager received a call yesterday that his contract will not be renewed at the end of the year.

A club official declined to name the incoming coaches, but is confident they will take the team to greater heights.

“We will announce our technical team, which will steer us in 2015 season, and I believe it will comprise people who will motivate and take the team to glory,” said the official.

“The coaching team is expected to be of highly-qualified personnel who will turn around the fortunes of the club.

“We are positive that they will do the job for us as Harare City.”

The announcement will bring to an end a lot of speculation which had been going around as to who will be at the helm of the ambitious team.

The Sunshine Boys, who were bronze medalists last season after narrowly losing the championship to Dynamos on the last day, had a tough campaign this year.

They lost six games on the trot with then coach Bigboy Mawiwi alleging that he was being sabotaged by some members of the club’s leadership.

However, Mawiwi was sacked midway through the season and Dinyero took over from his boss in Week 17 when the club were odds-on favourites to be one of those to be relegated. He did well in his first few games before things started falling apart towards the end of the season.

City managed to survive relegation with a crucial 1-0 win over Chicken Inn on the dramatic last day of the season.

In sharp contrast, Mangwiro led CAPS United to third place in the championship race and there was just a four-point gap, at the end, between them and champions Dynamos.

Many analysts believe that Mangwiro could have led the Green Machine to their first league title, in nine years, had their season not been blighted by chaos, at crucial intervals, when players went on strike over unpaid dues.

With his qualifications and experience, Mangwiro is expected to turn around the fortunes of Harare City, who are regarded as one of the most stable teams in the Premier League.

The recruitment of Mangwiro is a major statement by the Harare City Football Club leaders, under the leadership of veteran administrator Alois Masepe, who were given the mandate by Harare City Councillors to run the affairs of the club until the end of next year.

The vote of confidence from the councillors came after Masepe and his management team of vice-chairman, Stanley Ndemera, secretary-general Matthew Marara, treasurer Tendai Kwenda, legal secretary Charles Kandemiri and organising secretary, Everisto Rukasha, stablised the club, midway during last season, following a horrible start to their campaign.

Masepe said their major assignment, this year, was to ensure that the club survived relegation, but next season, the team will change their focus.

“We have set 2015 as the year for consolidation to build a foundation to turn Harare City into a powerful institution that its potential deserves,” Masepe told The Herald.

“We have to position Harare City FC within the institution of Harare City Council so that it is part of and benefits from the sporting infrastructure of the City.

“We have excellent sporting infrastructure in Harare, but at the moment the football club does not fit into the structure so we want to make Rufaro the home of the Sunshine Boys because the team does not have a real home yet the City owns stadiums.”