The Sunday Mail
Langton Nyakwenda
THE door keeps revolving at Dynamos as coaches come and go at the volatile Harare giant.
Seven coaches have been in and out of that revolving door since 2014 when Kalisto Pasuwa guided DeMbare to a fourth straight league title and their last since then.
To put it into context, Dynamos have changed coaches nine times, including Lloyd Mutasa and the returning Tonderai Ndiraya’s two spells, since Norman Mapeza joined champions FC Platinum the very same year Pasuwa left in 2014.
It’s an alarming staff turnover given that DeMbare’s rivals Caps United have stuck with Lloyd Chitembwe since September 2015, while emerging giants Chicken Inn have had incumbent Joey Antipas and Rahman Gumbo in the last five years.
The returning Ndiraya gets into the driver’s seat hoping to arrest a four-game losing streak when Dynamos play TelOne at Barbourfields this afternoon.
Dynamos fired Lloyd “MaBlanyo” Chigowe last Monday, a day after DeMbare lost 0-1 against Herentals and recalled Ndiraya, who was surprisingly dispensed off by the club back in 2015 despite guiding the team to a second place finish in the league plus a Chibuku Super Cup final appearance.
“It was really a huge gamble on my part but I told myself this is home, I have to do it,” Ndiraya told The Sunday Mail on Friday afternoon, two days after he was unveiled at the Harare giant.
Ndiraya comes in at a time DeMbare are going through a difficult patch and the former Ngezi gaffer knows exactly what is expected of him by the club’s mythical seven million supporters.
“Psychologically, the whole system is damaged so we are trying to repair it.
“Quite frankly, the team is in a difficult time, losing four matches in a row is damaging.
“But, there’s so much hope, there’s potential amongst the players and the duty is to manage the potential that is there or we risk destroying them (players) altogether,” says Ndiraya.
DeMbare have one win in their opening four matches of the season and given the alarming coach turnover at the Harare side, it is difficult not to rule out another change should the team fail to recover in the following weeks.
For this is a team that has changed coaches at an alarming rate of two per season, since Pasuwa’s successful reign.
Pasuwa left in November 2014, soon after clinching a record fourth straight league title.
David “Yogi” Mandigora took over but was sacked in July 2015 despite DeMbare being just three points behind then log leaders Triangle, going into the second half of that season.
Ndiraya came in and guided DeMbare to second position plus an appearance in the Chibuku Super Cup final, but that was deemed not good enough as he was shown the door at the end of that season.
Portuguese coach, Paolo Jorge Silva was appointed from the blue on January 19, 2016 but his comical reign only lasted until May 13 when he was fired and replaced by his assistant Lloyd Mutasa.
After securing fifth position at the end of the 2016 season, Mutasa was given the full reigns in 2017 and finished the race second behind FC Platinum.
However, it was Mutasa’s turn to face the guillotine on May 8, 2018 when Samaita was sacked after registering two wins in 10 matches.
Biggie Zuze took over but was fired after only four matches in charge and Mutasa sensationally bounced back.
Mutasa was fired again on September 28, and was replaced by Lloyd “MaBlanyo” Chigowe who oversaw DeMbare’s survival before he was also sacked last week, after only four games into the 2019 season.
