CAPS United begin preparations

By Grace Chingoma

The CAPS United technical team and the club management yesterday held a preparatory meeting in Harare.

The club leaders had said they will be engaging with the players, and other members of staff, to establish a common position that will safeguard all parties’ in the various employment contracts.

And, yesterday, that exercise began.

“We are excited that football is returning, at least, we are going to be active again,’’ said coach, Darlington Dodo.

“We can no longer afford to relax anymore. We need to start planning and prepare as we wait for the official announcement.’’

Dodo said they looked at their playing personnel contracts, checking each player’s status, ahead of the proposed resumption of the game.

However, the coach said the issues of expired, or expiring contracts, will be addressed by the relevant authorities.

“As a club, we don’t usually give players one-year contracts but there are others who were already in the system and are now left with one-year contracts,’’ he said.

“But, the rest, we had done a good job on that.

“I cannot divulge the number of players whose contracts are expiring, but we stand guided by our football leaders and the Footballers Union of Zimbabwe on this.

“The individual training programmes went on well but the lockdown period was too long, so, at the end of the day, the work rates changed and some players could no longer perform the way they did when lockdown came into effect.

“We just hope that when we resume training they will quickly recover and be at their best.

“The players are still motivated. We were communicating, sharing information during the lockdown, keeping each other motivated.’’

The technical meeting also addressed the health measures the club should take.

“We have always been emphasising to our players that they should stay safe, at their homes, maintaining social distance, not engaging in money games and training on their own,’’ said Dodo.

“As we look forward to resumption, we also want to make sure that the players, who have been safe all along, remain so when they start training.

“We will follow all the health regulations and we also have our medical team, which will guide us throughout the process, at club level.’’

The club’s leaders are also on a drive to bring in new investors into the club.

The exercise, which has a time-line of five years, will see the club’s two directors, Farai Jere and Nhamo Tutisani, shedding some of their shares. The Herald