. . . Poor run irks employers
. . . Coach loses dressing room control
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
IN the Bible, Jesus carried a cross that has become symbolic of the world’s problems.
Therefore, when people carry their own crosses, they are dealing with their own burdens, and so is Mutare Premiership outfit, Manica Diamonds coach, Jairos Tapera, whose boys have gone for NINE straight matches without a win, and miserably, SIX matches without hitting the back if the net.
Their last win came on May 26 when they beat Hwange 1-0 at Sakubva Stadium.
In an interview this week, Manica Diamonds chairman, Masimba Chihowa told Post Sport that they are certainly not happy with the poor results, and sudden loss of grip on a campaign that had appeared so promising.
Chihowa said the club has availed everything that the players and coaches need, much more than fellow top-flight league teams, hence their sense of desperation and exasperation.
Chihowa, however, did not reveal whether the former Warriors caretaker coach was given an ultimatum to collect a certain number of points within a given timeframe or not, as being widely speculated in social media circles.
“We have done all that we could as the club executive to ensure that this team achieves set goals and targets, but it appears results are not coming our way as expected. This is definitely worrisome to us. It is a cause for concern indeed, and to that end, we are engaging with the technical team to understand their side of the story on the poor run,” said Chihowa.
“We have not yet taken any drastic measures like giving the coach an ultimatum or a decision to fire him. We are still on the drawing board, and trying to eke out a solution as a team.”
However, Post Sport has it on good authority that Tapera, has all, but lost control of the Manica Diamonds dressing room owing to his biased team selection tendencies.
Players who confided in this newspaper on condition of anonymity, said Tapera brazenly parades his positive attitude towards other players, while simultaneously exuding a negative attitude towards certain players, especially those he did not bring to the team.
One of the players said: “It is sad that you have a coach who rebukes a player in full view of other players, and yet others are treated as sacred cows who are disciplined in a mature manner away from the public glare.
“This is poor player management, and this created a huge rift, and caused division among the players. Apart from that, there is no longer that spirit of extra effort or to fight for the coach from the players. He has definitely lost the control of the dressing room.”
Even though Tapera has denied these allegations, results on the field of play do not vindicate him at all.
“It has been, and it shall be that social media has never been good for Manica Diamonds. I do not know if it is good of the team or it is personal. Recently, there was this issue of Kuda Mahachi fighting with the coach, and being released from his contract, but nothing like that happened.
“Now it is Jairos Tapera being fired by Manica Diamonds, I do not know where this is coming from. Now you are talking about a divided team, do you really think with the way we want results, I can overlook someone who can give me the results we desperately need? I really wonder,” Tapera told Post Sport.
The Gem Boys surprised everyone, including themselves, when they suddenly became a significant part of the PSL Championship matrix last season, and only erred in dropping points unnecessarily in the race, to end on second position on the table.
