By Godknows Matarutse
Dynamos chairperson Isaiah Mupfurutsa has asked the club’s supporters to retain their faith in coach Lloyd Mutasa as the Glamour Boys continue to struggle in the Castle Lager Premiership.
DeMbare lost 1-0 to Ngezi Platinum Stars on Sunday at Rufaro Stadium which was their eighth defeat of the season and left them 13th on the log with 22 points from 20 matches.
The Glamour Boys are just three points above the last relegation slot and could suffer the ignominy of dropping down to the second tier if results keep eluding them.
Speculation surrounding Mutasa’s future has escalated with each fresh setback and, despite the newly-appointed club president Solomon Sanyamandwe issuing a public backing of the coach recently, rumours that the hierarchy’s patience is running out have refused to die down.
Mupfurutsa, who assumed his role last month, feels while the results have not been coming their way lately, firing the coach at this moment is not the solution.
“It’s not a secret that we are going through a difficult patch. I know Dynamos is a big brand, we have expectations and we are not used to losing. Usually, when things are like this, we tend to lose patience, fans and other stakeholders, but we need to pull in one direction,” he said.
“I think the most important thing at the moment is to bring stability to the club. I believe you will agree with me that the situation has stabilised since we assumed office.
“There is a significant improvement from how the team is performing. I think against Ngezi, the boys were just unlucky.
“We don’t want to rush into firing the coach. Remember, there was a time when the coach was briefly sacked and he had to start all over again.
“We can’t rush to say the coach has failed. We all know where we are coming from and where we want to go.
“Let’s work together and support each other. What’s important is for the team to finish at a respectable position which I think is very possible. We will be too ambitious to say we want to challenge for the championship.”
Mupfurutsa continued: “If we are to bring in a new coach, he will also have to start from somewhere. What we want to do is to give him (Mutasa) all the support. If we can pick wins, we will be in a better position.”
The banking executive added that the newly-appointed DeMbare leadership has also not given up on bringing midfielder Brett Amidu to the club saying negotiations are at an advanced stage.
“We are working tirelessly to bring Amidu and other players who are on the coach’s shoplist. Negotiations are taking place and we should conclude soon to bring Amidu,” he said.
“We are coming from a deep end and we need to understand it’s a process but it takes everyone’s support including our fans to achieve our goal.”
On the other hand, Mutasa has also not lost hope and is confident his team will come good soon.
“I wouldn’t want to say much about the things we do not have control over but I’m saying probably our target as Dynamos is to try and be the best team at this stage of the season,” Mutasa said.
“We lost a match but I would love to believe we are not very far from what we want to be. If we up ourselves in terms of scoring we will be a team to compete.
“We have only played three matches in the second half of the season and there are still 14 matches to play and I believe we can still bounce back.” – DailyNews
