The Sunday Mail

Meet Isaiah the Dynamos prophet

Isaiah Mupfurutsa
I KNEW what I was getting into when I accepted the mandate to be the Dynamos chairman.

DeMbare is a hot spot.

I know I have been thrown into the deep end but I promise you I am determined to swim from that deep end and in the process help my beloved team Dynamos

It must be acknowledged that Dynamos is a traditional institution with decades of achievements since its formation in 1963 so no one can say he or she is reinventing the club.

I am Isaiah Mupfurutsa, the Dynamos new chairman who is not coming to reinvent the wheel or to compete with the previous leaders, but to push forward what was started and sustained in the past.

The new executive didn’t come to start new things because Dynamos has been running for years thanks to the previous leadership including the one led by my predecessor Keni Mubaiwa.

Although we will come in with our own fair share of contribution, we also need to borrow from the previous administrators so that we take this team to where it belongs — the top.

How do we take Dynamos to the levels we feel it should be?

Engagement is key amongst all Dynamos stakeholders be it fans, players, coaches, sponsors and previous executive members.

There is need for continuous improvement at Dynamos and we have our own ideas that we will bring to the table.

DeMbare are a big club that cannot survive on a small budget, the club needs more revenue streams and not to rely only on sponsors and gate takings.

We are working on establishing a network of corporates to partner this club because no single entity can be able to fully finance all of Dynamos’ needs.

In that regard we are very thankful to our sponsors NetOne for a tremendous job, we sleep well at Dynamos because we know Net One are there for us.

Being the biggest club in the country, Dynamos has the potential to attract good players but at the same time we need to reset the club’s production line.

We used to have a renowned youth policy that groomed a number of players who went on to become national team players and that is what we want to revive.

We need to have junior players who grow up in the system, players with blue blood running in their veins.

And to do that we need partners to support us because it requires money.

With quality players DeMbare can reclaim its dominance on the local Premiership.

That is why we have to support Lloyd Mutasa and his technical team, that’s the way forward.

The July window has just opened and we have told the coach to draw up his wish list so that we facilitate any movements. Fans are also a very key stakeholder at Dynamos.

Fans have been the mainstay of Dynamos and we will need to respect them and also listen to what they have to say. We have fans who sometimes walk distances to the stadium, fans who are parting with their hard earned cash just to support the club and they deserve our respect.

We want to create a scenario where every stakeholder plays it role.

Peace Makaha should deliver on the pitch, Mutasa on the technical bench, fans on the terraces and us the administrators in the boardroom.

Professionalism is the key word.

Some might be wondering who this Isaiah Mupfurutsa is.

Well, I am a 47-year-old banker with over 20 years’ experience and I am not new to football.

I played Area Zone football in Chitungwiza in the 1980s but could not turn professional because of educational commitments.

I single handedly owned a Division Two club Vanway Leopards between 2007 and 2014.

 

Isaiah Mupfurutsa is the recently appointed Dynamos chairman and he spoke to our sports reporter Langton Nyakwenda on Friday July 6 in Harare.