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Tadious Manyepo Sports Reporter

WAS Paulo Jorge Silva right when he said Dynamos will turn into a punching bag under the guidance of Lloyd Mutasa?

The wayward Portuguese gaffer, who had Mutasa as his assistant at Dynamos, was fired in June 2016 after a string of poor results.

Mutasa was then elevated to the hot seat, with Silva suggesting that his former assistant had back-stabbed him.

The Portuguese coach lambasted Mutasa and predicted the Glamour Boys would fight relegation in a space of two years if Mutasa remained their coach.

“As long as Dynamos are coached by Mutasa and his blunt backroom staff, I tell you for sure the team will always struggle,” said Silva.

“In two years’ time, the team will be fighting for survival and not the championship. That guy (Mutasa) belongs to the old-school type of football.

“He is not a modern coach. He pays too much attention to issues which have nothing to do with football development.’’

When Mutasa led Dynamos to a second-place finish in 2017 in a spirited campaign in which his team pushed eventual champions FC Platinum to the line, many felt Silva had been proved wrong.

However, things are now looking gloomy at the Glamour Boys and there are some who are now wondering if Silva was right after all.

The country’s biggest and most successful club find themselves lying fifth from bottom of the table after Match Day 20. They have accumulated a paltry 22 points in a poor run in which they have won just five times, drawn seven and lost eight matches.

DeMbare are now only three points off the relegation threshold.

The club’s conversion rate is so pathetic they have managed to bag 17 goals.

The last time the country’s most successful club finished outside the top five was in 2006 when their biggest rivals Highlanders won the title.

Mutasa, who in the off-season said he would have failed as a coach if his charges don’t win the league title, has since conceded that the championship is now beyond them.

He, however, insists the club will finish the season strongly.

Dynamos have signed striker Munashe Kaseke in the current mid-season transfer window, while they have welcomed back midfielder Denver Mukamba, whose one-year loan deal at CAPS United was cut short due to the player’s wayward behaviour.

Every week that the Glamour Boys have plunged into action this season, and failed to win, it appears Silva – who was dismissed as either a madman or a comedian – is being proved right after all.