The ManicaPost
WE all know that the game of football is pregnant with emotions and this explains the huge following the world’s most beautiful game — as it is widely referred to — commands on this planet.
We all appreciate the strong desire to win football matches on the part of players, coaches, administrators as well as club owners. After all, that is the motivating factor in competing.
However, in today’s professionalised football structure, there are clear cut codes, roles and duties assigned to different offices within the club set up, as espoused in the Fifa Club Licensing System.
Last weekend, the nation woke up to stunning news that Castle Lager Premiership débutantes Yadah Stars played their league match against Bantu Rovers without their coaches on the technical bench.
This was after a fallout between the club coaches and club owner Prophet Walter Magaya and as the Law of Karma would have it, Yadah suffered a heavy and humiliating 7-2 defeat, never mind the winning bonuses the cash rich club owner ended up awarding his players.
Failure to have coaches on the bench, a rare incident in domestic top flight league football, sent tongues wagging in local football circles with many critics questioning the wisdom or rather lack of it in Yadah Stars playing without coaches on the bench.
That most adults of today last experienced such a bizarre set up back in the days of street football puts into context the amateurish nature of Yadah’s approach to football matters.
It is against this background that elsewhere in this newspaper we carry a story on fans expressing resentment over Yadah’s recent boob as well as the subsequent lenient stance taken by the powers that be in local football.
Club owners need to learn to leave the club managerial role to coaches — the people who they entrust with the duty to manage their club because of the managerial education that they have, that which club owners in many cases do not have. This super-rich mentality of investment without control is anathema to professionalism in football and does not really work on technical issues in football. Coaches know and understand that they are hired guns who know the rules — perform or get fired.
It is also imperative to note that there could be exceptions to the rule in cases such as Jomo Sono — a qualified coach who has his own team — Jomo Cosmos.
This is why we take sides with the school of thought that propounds that Yadah Stars can never be an exception.
If the club is serious about football as it is about its ministry, then they should learn to do the right thing — give coaches the respect they deserve.
