The Zimbabwe Football Association has appointed Zdravko Logarušić as the new Warriors coach on a substantive basis.
ZIFA have also appointed Chicken Inn coach Joey Antipas and Lloyd Chitembwe of Harare City as Assistants to the Croat.
Dynamos coach will also sit on the National Team bench as the National U23 Coach.
Forgotten former goalkeeper Pernell McKop is the new goalkeepers’ coach.
DYNAMOS coach Tonderai Ndiraya, says the Glamour Boys are the most difficult club to coach, and play for, in local football.
Dembare have virtually overhauled their squad and brought in 11 new players with the recruitment exercise still going on.
The former champions will embark on periodic camps this off-season aimed at conditioning the large pool of their new recruits to the demands that come with playing for the Glamour Boys.
“This is Dynamos, like I have said, it is the most difficult club to play for as a player and the most difficult to coach,’’ said Ndiraya.
“Just acquiring players is not good enough, you need to prepare them, to get into the right fitness levels and make sure that they are able to handle the pressure which comes with playing for such a big brand.”
Ndiraya recommended the release of a handful of players like Godfrey Mukambi, Stephen Chimusoro, Philip Kaseke and Edgar Mhungu to freshen up his squad.
The Glamour Boys have brought in a number of new faces, including Juan Mutudza, goalkeeper Taimon Mvula, Partson Jaure, Nkosi Mhlanga and Lennox Mutsetse.
“These boys have come to a big and difficult institution where there is immense pressure, we are already working on conditioning them.”
“The boys have to put in big performances. Dynamos is about having a big heart.”
“I am satisfied, so far, with the process. We need to prepare the boys’ mentality,” said Ndiraya.
“We are going to face a difficult, yet exciting season, so we are busy preparing the boys in terms of mental strength.”
Dynamos failed to come to the party last season, finishing a disappointing ninth in the league.
“I am quite hopeful that they will be able to step up,’’ said Ndiraya.
“Last year was a very difficult season for us. Very disappointing in terms of results but, of course, I would like to also give credit to the boys who were there, those we have released and are on their way to join other clubs.”
“They did well to protect our brand, without their hard work and effort we could have been talking of something else.”
“I think this year it is about taking the brand to another level. Naturally, a team is not built over one season, you need a minimum of about three seasons to come up with a strong team.’’
Ndiraya’s charges spent the weekend at Lake Chivero in a team-building exercise.
Another conditioning camp is slated for next week at a venue yet to be known.
United Kingdom-based former Dynamos captain Memory Mucherahowa has attacked the club leaders for the current player-buying spree which he says is a consequence of the dearth of the club’s junior policy tradition.
Dynamos, who struggled to a ninth-place finish in the league last year, have been on an aggressive player recruitment drive which has seen the club bring in at least 11 new players in a bid to restore the glory day at the Harare giants.
The man, popularly known as Mwendamberi, who led Dynamos to the 1998 African Champions League final, castigated the Glamour Boys for abandoning the junior policy which was the heartbeat of the club from Independence until the early 2000s.
“It is a good thing that Dynamos is strengthening the team. I hope they will do well. My only worry is whether these players will cope with the demands of such a big institution,” the 50-year-old former captain said from his UK base.
“Dynamos used to rely on its junior policy and the youngsters would play in curtain raisers. By the time they graduated into the senior team, they would be aware of the demands of the team’s supporters.
“The fans knew their youngsters. They would form the core of the team with only one or two additions and not more than seven players,” he said.
Dynamos have so far signed 11 players, including Patson Jaure, Tanaka Chidhobha, Nkosi Mhlanga and Lennox Mutsetse early on in the transfer window.
The club also added Byron Madzokere, Tymon Mvula, Jeansmith Mutudza, David Temwanjira, Barnabas Mushunje, Tinotenda Chiunye and, lately, Sylvester K Appiah to the 2020 squad.
Coach Tonderai Ndiraya is looking to build a team that will compete for the Premier Soccer League title which the club last won six years ago.
However, Dynamos have made significant strides in trying to make sure that they revive junior football at the club as they now have a developmental side playing Division Two football.
“We had the generation of Kuda Muchemeyi, Shaw Handriade, Edward Katsvere, David Mandigora, then Clayton Munemo’s generation. We also had my generation followed by Simon Chuma’s and then Chamu Musanhu’s generation. We carried the Dynamos culture and got used to the fans’ demands before we graduated into the senior team,” Mucherahowa said.
“It has always been my dream to play for Dynamos Football Club and I am sure the club will get me where I want to be with my career.
I am happy for this new chapter, new challenge and new home everything is exciting and I am looking forward to a great season.
The big challenge now is being at the biggest club in the country, we all know the club demands a lot but I am going to do my best not to disappoint everyone especially the board and the fans.
I think to have such pressure at a club like DeMbare where fans are very demanding is good to every player and this will push me to perform well in every match.
And it’s going to be new because I have never played for a club with so many fans before and the people I’m going to be surrounded with but I’m going to handle it my way and do the best for the team.
I thank the Herentals board for being there for me for the past four years and also the coaches for believing in me. And I also want to salute my teammates for the work, love and good relationship getting the team into the PSL and remain there until now so I want to wish them good and a great 2020 season”
Dynamos Secretary-General, Webster Marechera, says Dynamos will this coming season roll out a commercial plan which will see the team make strides towards commercialization.
“We are Dynamos and we have to take a leading role in everything. In as much as we want to win trophies, we also want to make profits,” said Marechera.
“We didn’t do well last year but this time around we hope to regain our place.
“Obviously, as a club, we also need to make money. We need to partner with corporates, we need to embark on some ventures to make sure that the club makes profit.
“But it is a gradual process. We have made a lot in terms of effort to ensure we succeed on both fronts in 2020.”
Dynamos, the biggest and most successful club in Zimbabwe has perrenially operated like a tuckshop with no commercial plan or audited accounts among othet things. The club has failed to purchase a training ground, a bus of its own or a decent office of its own.
The club has failed to live up to its billing through an archaic leadership that often employs stone-age tactics.
This has seen Dembare falling way behind other continental heavyweights like Al-Ahly, Kaizer Chiefs, ASEC Mimosas, Esperance and so on.
It remains to be seen if this latest initiative will come to fruition, or it will die a natural death, like many other initiatives before
Returning defender Partson Jaure is odds-on favourite to be handed the Dynamos armband when the Dynamos technical team meet next week to plan for the new Premiership football season.
Veteran striker Edward Sadomba, who retired from his international career in 2018, returned home last season for a farewell dance with the local Premiership and captained the Harare giants last season.
Sadomba has since announced his departure from the field of play.
The oft-volatile Harare giants now need a new figure of influence to rally their dressing room together and help connect with the management and the supporters and Jaure is in a strong position to fill in the position.
Jaure is a Dynamos product and rose through the ranks to the senior team, though he had brief stints at lower division sides AMC and LaLiga.
Jaure commanded a regular place in the Dembare senior team for 4 seasons and won 6 trophies including 3 successive league titles. His strong perfomances attracted the interest of SA side University Of Pretoria who snapped him in 2014.
Upon his return from South Africa, Partson Jaure joined Ngezi Platinum Stars Football Club under Tonderai Ndiraya and later on crossed the Zambezi to join Zambian top-flight club Buildcon where he did not last for long after his contract was terminated on mutual agreement. He came back to Zimbabwe and signed for newly promoted PSL outfit Manica Diamonds where he played last season.
The other senior players who were understudies to Sadomba last season Jimmy Tigere, Godfrey Mukambi and Simba Chinani often found it difficult to fill in the big shoes worn in the past by the likes of Sunday Chidzambwa, Francis Shonhai, Memory Mucherahowa, Justice Majabvi, Desmond Maringwa and Murape Murape.
The appointment of Jaure is being seen as a vital step in the revolution taking place at the former champions who finished in a disappointing ninth place last season.
EVANS Katema’s gods have kept smiling on him after playing just a single season in the local Premiership as he is on the verge of signing for Zambian football giants Zanaco.
The dreadlocked 31-year-old Dynamos striker has been offered a lucrative deal and could put pen to paper if he passes his medicals set for this week.
Dynamos spokesperson Tinashe Farawo confirmed the development yesterday.
“I can confirm that Evans Katema has been invited for medicals by Zanaco FC in Zambia. As soon as he passes those medicals, he will immediately sign for that team,” said Farawo.
“We had made it a point not to sell the player to any local bidders. Virtually all teams in the country wanted him but we made it clear that he was not for sale.
“But, we cannot stand in his way when a club of Zanaco’s magnitude comes knocking on the door requiring his services. It is an opportunity for him to try and further his career in a competitive league.”
Yet, just over a year ago, Katema was playing in the less glamorous Northern Region Division One with Mushowani Stars.
He helped them grab the sole ticket into the top-flight last season where he proved to be a standout player, banging in seven goals in 15 games for the under-funded side which has since been relegated.
He couldn’t stay with the Newman Mashipe charges as Dynamos snapped him up in the mid-season transfer window.
At DeMbare, Katema scored a further five goals to help Dynamos finish in mid-table and he has of late been rumoured to be interested in joining Dynamos’ arch-rivals CAPS United.
DYNAMOS could be headed for yet another disastrous season following reports the executive is imposing players on the technical team led by Tonderai Ndiraya.
The Glamour Boys had a near catastrophic term last year after the team chefs emotionally released players en masse without consulting then head coach Lloyd Chigowe.
Chigowe, who had been roped in to save the club from relegation late in the 2018 season, was left without any option but to resort to inexperienced novices including Tino Muringai, Jarrison Selemani, Emmanuel Jai, Tawanda Chisi and Nigel Katawa, who was coming straight from high school.
The move almost backfired terribly for DeMbare as they struggled for form in the early stages of the marathon as the Premiership proved too heavy a task for the greenhorns.
Naturally, Chigowe was made the sacrificial lamb and he was replaced by Ndiraya.
Ndiraya only managed to stabilise the shaky squad after bringing in some experienced players in the mid-season transfer window with the addition of Archford Gutu, Simba Nhivi, Godknows Murwira and Evans Katema.
Nevertheless, Dynamos finished a distant ninth in the league and Ndiraya had reiterated at the end of the season that he would be looking to beef up the squad ahead of the 2020 season.
The former Ngezi Platinum Stars gaffer is understood to have submitted his wish-list to the executive way back in October last year.
But the DeMbare executive has reportedly gone against the mentor’s wishes, instead signing players who Ndiraya never recommended.
The central defensive position was the team’s Achilles heel last term where Chisi, Munyaradzi Mawadza, Jimmy Tigere and Godfrey Mukambi were rotated and the Glamour Boys have since enlisted the services of former player Partson Jaure from Manica Diamonds.
Though Ndiraya is a big fan of Jaure, having previously worked with the Warriors defender at Dynamos and Ngezi Platinum, it is not clear whether he gave the player’s signing the thumbs-up.
While Ndiraya’s affinity for young blood is well documented, what he said at the end of the season pertaining the way he wants his troops to line up for the 2020 season seems to be at odds with opening the doors to more young players.
But the executive has since brought in Tanaka Chidhobha from Prince Edward Academy and another youngster Nkosi Mhlanga from Yadah.
Team manager Richard Chihoro yesterday said signing of players was done with the technical team’s blessings and there was nothing amiss inasfar as the signings done so far were concerned. Dynamos spokesperson Tinashe Farawo scoffed at suggestions the executive was acting against the coach’s will.
Ndiraya last week told the media that he was not aware of the signings being done by the team.
“We know how to act in a professional manner. Dynamos is not a rag-tag team but an institution with millions of people behind that badge. We know the ethos and essence of corporate governance and we can’t do business in such an uncivilised way. The coach gave us his wish-list long back, maybe three or four months ago and we are simply chasing after those players,” said Farawo.
“We will never try to embarrass ourselves and go against the coach’s will. He recommended certain players and they are the ones whom we are following up and taking on board. So suggestions that we are signing players whom he did not recommend are off the mark.”
Farawo also dismissed suggestions the team was going to off-load eight players including Katawa, Muringai and Mukambi, saying the coach is yet to submit the names of those he wanted released.
One of the yet-unexplained mysteries at Dynamos FC is the habit of their players kneeling along the goalline just before each of all their matches. Dynamos players have followed the act religiously over many years but noone has ever cared to explain why the act was formulated for and what really will be going on in the minds of the players when they kneel on the line. The common explanation has been that the players kneel down and pray to God for the pending match. But others, especially their rivals, have been quick to rubbish that narrative, alleging instead that Dynamos, well known for their strong beliefs in juju will be engaging in the supernatural. They support their argument by questioning why their 2 matchday goalkeepers always kneel at the 2 ends of the goalposts. They also question why their captain of the day kneels right in the middle of the line.
Opposing teams have refused to buy the prayer narrative, saying Dembare gains supernatural powers by this kneeling act on the goalline. They allege maybe that is why Dynamos reached the final of the 1998 CAF Champions League. They allege maybe that is why Dynamos have won 21 League titles since the advent of competitive football in this country.
Alois Bunjira, then a Caps Utd player in the 90s, once incensed the Dembare faithful when he sarcastically kicked a ball over the kneeling Dynamos players into goal, obviously to “weaken the ritual”. The Dynamos fans and players were angry and the match got ill-tempered to the extent of then Dembare defender Kaitano Tembo making an early vicious tackle on Bunjira, which earned him a straight red card while Bunjira was rushed to hospital. As said before, noone at Dembare has really cared to shed light on the act.
Surprisingly, coach Lloyd Mutasa, who participated in the act as a player in many years, abandoned the act when he became coach at the club in 2015, preferring his players to stand on the field while facing the East. This act was influenced by Mutasa’s religious beliefs at that time as an Apolostolic sect member.
However, Dynamos fans, who had gotten used to the old act, openly voiced their concerns before all coming matches and somehow results eluded Mutasa and he did not last the distance. Immediately after Mutasa left, Dynamos did not hesitate to revert to their old act, which stands up to this day.
It is a fact that Dynamos has been Zimbabwe’s most successful club in this country, but it will always be debatable whether that success emanates from their “goalline prayer act”. They are yet to win the league since their last triumph in 2014, yet the goalline act persists to this day. Even as the 2020 season is about to commence, the odds are that the Dembare “goalline prayer” will persist, even for years to come.