Chitembwe back at Caps . . . Mathe retained as deputy coach Lloyd Chitembwe

Grace Chingoma Harare Bureau
LLOYD Chitembwe, who bounced back at Caps United following his appointment as the head coach yesterday, says it feels good to be back at the club and is ready for the challenges which come with coaching one of the biggest clubs in the Premiership.

Mark Mathe was retained in the club’s technical team as the deputy coach and would assist the former Caps United midfielder.

The rest of the technical team was also retained with goalkeeper’s coach Brenna Msiska continuing with his role while Toastao Kwashi will also maintain his post as the juniors’ coach.

Chitembwe’s last coaching stint was last year with Northern Region Division One side Starbill.

The coach, who was in charge of Caps United in 2013, said he was not feeling under pressure to return to the club where he was given the mandate to help the team finish in the top four or gets fired at the end of the season.

“It feels good to be back. There is always pressure in football since my playing days so it is not any different this time,” he said.

The Green Machine is on seventh position, 13 points behind pacesetters Chicken Inn.

Yesterday morning, club president Farai Jere, club chairman Lewis Uriri, board members Doctor Mordecai Sachikonye, Abraham Kawadza, Alois Bunjira and the technical team had a meeting in the capital were the changes were made.

The respected lawyer emerged from that meeting to address a Press conference and said they had decided to have continuity in the team hence they did not fire anyone.

“We are Caps United. We are not Caps Rovers. We are not Caps FC. We are a united outfit and we believe in continuity and we have got a very well articulated three- year strategic plan that we believe would bring results to the Caps United family. And as a united family that believes in continuity and believes in results, we are moving forward with that in mind.

“We’ve not been playing badly but results have not been coming our way and we are taking these measures to try and get the results.

“We’ve carefully considered where we have come from and where we are going, and we have come to the decision that for the next nine games and that is taking us to the 31st of December 2015, the technical bench as presently constituted, will continue but with one change, one of illustrious sons Lloyd Chitembwe, comes in as the head coach, and is head coach on an interim basis and we reiterate that up to the 31st December, and the position is very clear, if results do not come then the whole of the technical department are leaving.

“So we are looking for results and we remain committed to a top four finish. And when I say a top four finish I’m not excluding the top post, let me reiterate that the number one is the top spot and we look forward to good results,” he said.

Chitembwe, a known disciplinarian is expected to stamp authority in the dressing room and garner some results for the team which still has big assignments against the title chasing teams such as Dynamos and FCPlatinum.

Makepekepe, failed to collect maximum points in the previous matches against Tsholotsho and Dongo Sawmill.

The final straw was the 2-1 away defeat to Chapungu and the executive felt the likeable coach Mathe needed someone more experienced to assist him turn around the team’s fortunes.

Mathe has since pledged his support to Chitembwe.

“I will call a spade a spade, Chitembwe is more experienced than me. What I’m happy with is Lloyd has already done his own investigations and analysis and is comfortable to work with me.

“I asked the president whether Chitembwe was comfortable working with me and he said he has already done his own investigations and he’s happy to work with me. This shows he is very intelligent person who has done his research well,” he said.

 

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