The Sunday Mail

Makomborero Mutimukulu
Sports Editor
ONE cannot miss Norman Mapeza’s DNA in the manner in which FC Platinum are going about business even if they tried.

IN THE THICK OF THINGS . . . FC Platinum coach Norman Mapeza (second from right) conducts a training session at Mandava in Zvishavane last Friday- Picture by Paul Mundandi

After years of living up to the adage that “a fool and his money are soon parted”, the Zvishavane based side finally has a man who makes everyone at the club listen when he speaks.
Others before Mapeza used to listen to everyone and those public relations exercises back fired terribly as a haven of gossip and backbiting was created.
That is no longer the case, a new sheriff is in town and he has a say on what the players eat, the hours they spend in the gym and the system that the FC Platinum Under 19 squad employs.
Mapeza has played a big role in making sure that gone are the days of paying big bucks for players who ran like ducks without any input from the coach.
Prior to Mapeza’s arrival in 2014 to replace Lloyd Mutasa, even the club’s supporters thought they had a say on how the team should be run.
That too is gone.
And so is the sight of FC Platinum players dancing the night away at some of the town’s filthiest nightclubs or milling around outside Pote Supermarket, getting freebies from fans in exchange for dressing room gossip.
Professionalism is what FC Platinum are striving for and in Mapeza, the club has a coach who knows the route after years of playing at the biggest stage with the finest players.
Naturally, some toes have been stepped on and some tails cut to size as Mapeza infuses his modus operandi but everyone – including his harshest critics – agrees that the former Galatasaray man is on to something good.
Last season, FC Platinum where in the championship mix until the penultimate round of matches and there is an expectation that 2016 will be the club’s year of ecstasy.
“As FC Platinum we don’t hide our intentions, our ambition is to challenge for honours in each and every season,” said the club’s protocol officer, Evans Mutombeni.
“We believe in the coaches we hire and always strive to give them the best possible operating environment. Obviously when you have been up there you need great effort to move very little and basically that is our challenge.
“But what we are saying as FC Platinum is we will maintain our way, our professionalism and not push to win the league at all costs.”
The high expectation levels at FC Platinum are palpable.
The expectation is written on the faces of everyone that is involved with the club – from the bus driver to the guy who locks the doors to the gym where the players have exclusive access between 3 and 5 pm every weekday.
Amid such pressure and behind closed doors at Mandava, an often relaxed and smiling Mapeza does his best to take the load off his charges’ shoulders.
Mapeza’s playing career is filled with glitters and he still has the touch, a charming combination that makes the FC Platinum players idiolise their gaffer.
Soccer players often accuse their coaches of asking them to do the impossible but with Mapeza, that allegation doesn’t stick.
He walks his talk, tall and proud.
Midfielder Raphael Muduviwa is the latest to be awed by Mapeza’s still fine touch.
“Haa makaipa mudhara, hamuite mudhara wangu (You are bad news big man),” said Muduviwa after watching Mapeza nutmeg Nigel Papias during a training at Mandava on Friday.
The exhibition of such an admirable skill by Mapeza at training is daily bread, said the FC Platinum players who believe that their 43–year-old mentor hung up his boots prematurely.
Pure Platinum Play skipper, Elvis Mhari disclosed that improvement is the operative word this year.
“After finishing third last season, our aim is to better that achievement this year, that is all we will be seeking to do,” he said.
“As players, we need to work hard and repay the confidence that the supporters and the coaches have shown is us, last season they stuck by us through thick and thin and we want to show them that we appreciate their support by doing our best on the pitch.
“This year the club has signed a number of players and this has naturally made the team better, there will be more competition for places and that can only be good for the team.”
Among the new boys at FC Platinum are striker Rodwell Chinyengetere, a proven scorer whose blossoming career stumbled due to a nasty injury picked up three seasons ago.
The arrival of Chinyengetere and the return of Walter Musona have inadvertently saved Brian Muzondiwa from going off the rails, just like Nelson Maziwisa before him.
After scoring nine goals and getting a Soccer Stars of the Year selection last season, young Muzondiwa was beginning to believe that he had arrived.
A national team call up further strengthened the 23-year-old forward’s mistaken belief.
However, after some cooling off of the interest shown in him by some Harare based clubs and a heartbreaking miss on the African Nations Championship final squad, Muzondiwa is back in Zvishavane.
He is back knowing that he will have to work twice as hard for half as much as Mapeza looks to build a team that makes a statement both on and off the pitch.

FC Platinum players in car accident

Sports Reporter
THE FC Platinum quartet of Nqobizitha Masuku, Winston Mhango, Elvis Moyo and Wellington Kamudyariwa escaped unhurt when they were involved in a car accident on Friday.
The accident occurred along the Mbalabala road as the players were returning to their respective homes following the club’s announcement that it was breaking its off-season camp until February 15.
Club spokesperson Chido Chizondo confirmed the accident.
“Four players were involved in an accident but no one was injured. They are all well and it was nothing serious,” said Chizondo yesterday.
Warriors midfielder Masuku joined FC Platinum last December.
The trio of Mhango, Moyo and Kamudyariwa were part of Norman Mapeza’s free scoring side that finished third last season.
Mapeza has ordered the break in camp following a recent announcement by the Premier Soccer League that the 2016 season will begin early April to accommodate the Warriors’ back to back Afcon qualifiers against Swaziland in March.