The Sunday Mail
Makomborero Mutimukulu – Acting Sports Editor
TAURAI MANGWIRO is a firm favourite for the Dynamos coaching job.
The gaffer, who quit Caps United on Friday, is understood to have already reached a verbal agreement with DeMbare, who are searching for a man, or woman, to replace the history making Kallisto Pasuwa.
Despite applications for the DeMbare coaching job only closing next Monday and concerns about his ability to handle pressure in the hard hat dugout, sources plugged into the champions disclosed that Mangwiro is the first choice.
“Tau is a good coach and a Dynamos son. Unless something goes horribly wrong, he will be our coach next season.
“If you have a good eye, take a look at the players we are pursuing . . . do you think we are just going after players without getting advice from somewhere? No there is something happening behind the scenes,” said a DeMbare official.
The champions’ pursuit of the Makepekepe pair of Dominic Chungwa and Kelvin Bulaji buttresses claims that Mangwiro is heading back to a club he dutifully served as a player.
Dynamos chairman Kenny Mubaiwa revealed that his club will swoop on Bulaji as a free agent but was non-committal on the reported Chungwa pursuit.
Interestingly, Mubaiwa claimed it is the DeMbare executive that is identifying players to sign, a rather peculiar – unbelievable even – development. A new coach comes in with his own wish list and one would expect Dynamos to be smart enough to know that.
“We are doing it as the executive because we cannot afford to lose much time waiting for a new coach to come on board,” said Mubaiwa.
“Sometimes it does not need a coach to pinpoint a good player. After all we watched these players in action and know what they can offer us.
“We have also started negotiating with those players whose contracts are expiring at the end of the year although some of the key players are dilly-dallying.
“Some like Themba (Ndlovu) are not pitching up for negotiations despite numerous invitations but I can reveal that today (Friday) we spoke to Ocean Mushure and Ronald Chitiyo’s manager.”
Some Dynamos officials believe that roping in Mangwiro would help heal fissures that the pursuit of a new coach had threatened to widen between the club’s board and executive committee.
The all-powerful Dynamos board, headed by Bernard “Magitare” Marriot, argues that the coaching job at the Glamour Boys is a straitjacket – only blue-blooded gaffers are eligible.
On the other hand Mubaiwa and his team, who placed adverts calling for applications last week, appeared ready to go for the best qualified man with former Highlanders coach Kelvin Kaindu, a holder of a UEFA B licence, a favourite of theirs.
As a way of pacifying the hardcore clique, there was a suggestion that Kaindu gets surrounded by DeMbare sons.
It is in this vein that names of such young turks as current skipper Murape Murape, Desmond Maringwa and Tonderai Ndiraya were mentioned.
However, despite everything pointing at Mangwiro landing the job, Mubaiwa still insists that the unwritten rule on having former Dynamos players as coaches will not blinker their decision making.
“Yes, we have a standing tradition that calls for us to appoint only former Dynamos players but this time around, we are doing things differently, we have cast the net wider.
“We have placed an advert in the Press and let me stress, the head coach’s post is open to anyone, whether a former Dynamos son or not, as long as that coach qualifies and we agree terms.
“We cannot limit ourselves to former DeMbare sons because we are searching for quality. What if we fail to find a good coach within the family?” said the Dynamos boss.
Mangwiro, meanwhile, says he is yet to ponder on his next move after quitting Makepekepe after feeling that he “needed to terminate the contract”.
