The Sunday Mail
Langton Nyakwenda
LLOYD MUTASA turned 50 last Wednesday, and in a year that means a lot to him and the Dynamos family, he immediately declared his ambition to get his first championship medal as coach.
Dynamos is in love with the number seven, and perhaps a year ending in that number will restore the shine to a club that goes by the name the Glamour Boys. The mythical seven million souls who support DeMbare believe this is their year.
And in gaffer Mutasa they have a coach who certainly appears ready to hold the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League trophy come the end of the season. Like every other professional, football has given Mutasa highs and lows.
From that day back in 1983 when he won his first football medal, the Chibuku Junior Trophy, as a 13-year-old boy turning out for the now defunct Chitungwiza-based side Kunaka Trading Stores, to last Wednesday, when he clocked half a century, it has been quite a journey.
“Turning 50 is a milestone, especially in a year that ends with a seven because at Dynamos we attach so much importance to these years,” said Mutasa.
“My last championship medal as a Dynamos player came in 1997 and after that the team went for 10 solid years without a league title before David Mandigora won it under difficult conditions in 2007. And this is 2017.
“Our team has found its footing; belief has grown among the family that we can achieve something this season and we keep on believing.” This is his second stint as Dynamos coach. The first one ended in an abrupt divorce.
After building DeMbare from the ashes in 2011 – with unheralded players drawn mainly from his previous club Kiglon – Mutasa was fired for poor results midway through the season. His erstwhile friend Kalisto Pasuwa took over and went on to win four straight league titles.
Mutasa spoke about that sad chapter as he reflected on his football career after DeMbare’s morning training session at Motor Action Sports Club in Harare last Friday.
“I would want people to talk about that and not myself because I do not want to discredit (Pasuwa) who went on to win four titles on the trot. Winning four league titles is a huge achievement,” remarked Mutasa.
“But I would want to believe that I had a hand in that success. I remember people laughing at me when I suggested the idea of bringing the youngsters who I had worked with at Kiglon.
“People thought I had lost my mind … what do you think players who were almost relegated with Kiglon can bring to Dynamos’, the critics always questioned.
“But as history has recorded, the core of those players formed what became a ruthless DeMbare side that won four straight league titles.” The soft-spoken gaffer reckons he has matured into a battle-hardened coach.
“When you turn 50 you become a man . . . I have seen it all. I have gone through a lot in this coaching career and at one point I quit the job at FC Platinum much to the disappointment of my close associates. That is why I will never quit again – I would rather get fired,” said Mutasa.
