Bosso troubles claim first scalp

By Nash Mkokwayarira

Amini Soma Phiri became the victim of Highlanders’ recent poor form after he stepped down from his position as the assistant coach following damning allegations of sabotage from under-fire Dutch coach Erol Akbay.

Since Akbay announced his ill-timed decision to leave the club at the end of the season three weeks ago, the Bulawayo giants have gone on a free fall drawing one and losing three of their last four matches.

That poor run has seen Bosso lose ground in the title chase as they have dropped down to seventh place on the log table with 32 points and now trail log leaders Chicken Inn by a massive 16 points at a time the season reaches crucial phase.

And yesterday Highlanders chief executive Nhlanhla Dube confirmed Phiri was forced to tender his resignation after Akbay raised claims of sabotage in a letter written to the executive following the team’s 3-0 defeat at the hands of Ngezi Platinum Stars on Saturday.

“When we returned from Ngezi, we had a meeting with the head coach regarding various issues around the team’s performance and what we thought were issues that needed to be attended to,” Dube said at a press conference.

“We received a letter from the coach in which he articulated what he views as reasons for the team’s (poor) performances.

“As the burden of leadership requires, we had to cross reference these issues with the other members of the technical team and this resulted in assistant coach Amini Soma Phiri resigning from work this afternoon.

“He wrote a letter to us this morning which he delivered himself in which he articulated his greatest disappointment over the results of the team and his desire to allow the team to progress even without him.

“As a son of Highlanders, he decided to step down to allow the head coach to work without his input.” Daily News