Twine, just sell CAPS for $5m

17 May, 2015 - 00:05 0 Views
Twine, just sell CAPS for $5m CAPS United

The Sunday Mail

Twine Phiri must just sell CAPS United

Twine Phiri must just sell CAPS United

I am not a CAPS United fan, but I am a football fan. I follow soccer like most of my generation, and at times so religiously that meals get cold before me as I muse on how and why my team could lose so embarrassingly.

Lucky me, I am not a fan of Bayern Munich either, otherwise I would have had to shoulder two very heavy weeks. Neither am I a Real Madrid fan. But then again, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid are not top of the menu today, CAPS is.

What is wrong with Twine Phiri, you must have heard me thinking? Has he grown such an attachment with the club that he would not rather let it go? To what end?

What would be his problem if he were to sell the club and enjoy whatever profit he can accrue from the sale, assuming that the selling price covers all other liabilities?

We grew up feeling and enjoying the great rivalry between Dynamos, CAPS United, Highlanders, Zimbabwe Saints, Arcadia United, Rio Tinto, Mhangura, Black Aces, Gweru United (Pisa Pisa), Bata Power, Black Rhinos, Karls United, Fire Batteries, Blackpool and more recently Mwana Africa, Monomotapa, Motor Action, among a host of many other teams.

The inclusion of the now-defunct clubs is deliberate — to illustrate that as much as Twine Phiri might want to hang on to CAPS United, against the stark reality that the club is weighing him down, chances are that the team might go down into oblivion, as has done others.

Zimbabwe Saints were a big club, probably much bigger than CAPS United, but it did go down. Probably the younger generation does not even know that such a club once existed.

Rio Tinto, owned and run by one of the country’s richest mines, is no longer on the radar, yet it used to be one of the big clubs back in the day.

When Twine Phiri jumped on the occasion to buy CAPS United, when the parent company lost interest in running a football team, that decision was celebrated by many, as he was seen to be a visionary and a true Makepekepe fan. His decision was lauded in many quarters, in fact, he turned into an overnight hero, because the team faced uncertainty and possible collapse.

Many within the CAPS United family might be wondering today, what has become of the messiah of yesteryear, what has gotten into his head, that he can hold on to the club, even as the odds are stacked against him.

CAPS United is a brand, rivalling Dynamos and Highlanders for support, as in fan base and its disposal should not be much of a headache. There should be more than a handful of suitors waiting on the opportunity to acquire the franchise to run the club — for a good price too.

When one is selling CAPS United, they are not just selling the players, but the history and tradition as well, the heritage that is CAPS United, which is largely intangible. CAPS United will not go for a song, and should not go for a song.

It is a club rich in history, rich in tradition and rich in fan base.

So what is the problem with Twine Phiri, you must also be wondering? There are rumours that a number of suitors have been knocking on his door, with a view to taking over the running of the team, obviously at the right price, and there are suggestions that Twine has reportedly and repeatedly turned down most of these suitors.

It is no secret that his personal business(es) have not been doing well and probably he is holding on to CAPS United in the hope that it might offer him that financial salvation. Maybe he might get the financial reprieve he is seeking from CAPS United.

A maybe, that is.

Maybe he might not. A maybe, too.

What makes him think that if Zimbabwe Saints went down under, CAPS United will not? As much as he loves it?

What makes him think that if Mhangura went down, never mind that the mine had collapsed, that CAPS United will not? What makes him think if Mwana Africa, sponsored by the cash-rich mine, went down under, the same fate will not face CAPS United?

Twine Phiri might have his reasons for holding on to the team, reasons that we might not be privy to, but common sense and developments in history would advise our reasoning that the disposal of CAPS United to whoever is capable of turning the fortunes of the team around, is good, not only for the team, but for football in general.

His continued grip on the team, when all seem to be doom and gloom, is a bad advertisement for local soccer.

And in any case, who advised him to get an expatriate coach, when the team’s financials are so bad?

Why didn’t the team settle for a local coach, whose expectations will have been proportional to what is on the ground, given that locals know what the obtaining operating conditions are?

When the CAPS United players boycotted the match against How Mine, most of us, fence-sitters, thought it was just a mere protest, to force management into looking into the players’ welfare. Then they went on to be walloped by Triangle, in Triangle, a result which social media users quickly took to, to quip the club, that it could have been better if they boycotted the match, as they would have saved their scant resources.

Then came the hard-fought win over Highlanders, their first in over a decade, and many thought that was to be turning point of the team’s fortunes. The club’s supporters must still have been revelling in the win over Highlanders when they were hit with the news that the team had travelled in batches, with some in a pick-up, to Mutare for a draw with Buffaloes.

Then came the news that the coach was on the verge of being evicted from his rented home, because two months’ rent had not been paid.

Across town, the players were boycotting training sessions, over a number of breached promises.

As if that was not enough a pair was dragging Phiri to court, insisting that the club be liquidated as it is insolvent, as it is failing to pay its dues.

Now, I am not a financial person, figures are hardly my domain, but if I were the owner of CAPS United, I would sell it for no less than five million dollars. Yes, you heard me right. Five. Because CAPS United is heritage, is history, is a brand. CAPS United is no Dongo Sawmills, is no Motor Action, is no Blackpool. CAPS United once beat Dynamos for seven, without reply. A feat which is yet to be repeated, nor returned.

And you don’t sell that kind of history for a song. CAPS United, when we were growing up, we knew it as the Cup Kings, they took all the cups before them. That kind of heritage and history, you don’t sell for a song.

Now tell me, what would you do with five million, or whatever fraction you get out of that asking price? Pay off your debts, get your personal financial life in order, that is to include your ailing business — and life goes on. And football lives on — its image untainted, its image intact.

My advice to Twine Phiri is simple and straight-forward — sell the club, not for just any other price — but for the right price, and settle your debts and get life moving.

Unless he does that, CAPS United is to go down — and he will not get a cent — and his reputation will go down as well, that is if it hasn’t already.

 

You think otherwise, please don’t hesitate to join in on the debate, email to [email protected], or Facebook or Twitter @gmazara.

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