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Lovemore Dube Senior Sports Editor
THE Highlanders FC coaching job puzzle which has attracted the attention of Nigerian and African football icon, Jay Jay Okocha is expected to be solved tomorrow evening.

Highlanders chief executive officer Ndumiso Gumede confirmed last night that the executive had drawn a shortlist to be discussed with the board tomorrow.

He said Okocha had also sent a curriculum vitae of a Dutch coach who is working in Tunisia at the moment. The former Super Eagles midfield genius is managing the gaffer and is keen to see him take on a new challenge south of the Sahara.

“Due processes have been taking place. We’ve a shortlist of the coaches to be discussed with the board. This has taken too long but we hope at the end of the meeting we’ll have one name of a coach who’ll take over come January.

“It’s a fact that the job has attracted attention from all over the world. Even Okocha has forwarded a name to us. Others are from Brazil, Denmark, England, South Africa and Zimbabwe,” said Gumede.

A factor expected to play a role in the choice could be the cost of the coach with sponsors BancABC having cut their commitment to both Amahlolanyama and DeMbare by half.

A foreign coach looks the ideal choice with a local as an understudy at a time there is a lot of polarisation in the Bosso camp. A former player or a Zimbabwean coach could fuel factionalism

Finality on the case is expected to be reached in tomorrow’s monthly joint board and executive meeting, the last one for 2014 a season in which they flattered leading in the first half of the championship only to deceive with a fifth place finish. At the half way mark they led the standings but like the previous two seasons, they lacked the fighting edge to finish off the job.

The post was previously occupied by Kelvin Kaindu who was replaced on an interim basis by his former number two Mark Mathe.

Bosso and Kaindu went separate ways after 24 matches following an indifferent run in the second half of the season which had the city giants picking up just nine points out of a possible 27.

Interviews have been conducted with the job having attracted interest from as far as Brazil, Denmark, the Netherlands, England and South Africa with a number of Zimbabweans keen too.

The Highlanders executive met last night to finalise the hunt and are expected to meet the board tomorrow afternoon.

With the board at times usurping the responsibilities of the executive it is expected that after the two bodies’ deliberations a coach will be appointed.

Desmond Bulpin, a well travelled Scot, and Bongani Mafu have emerged as strong candidates for the hottest coaching job in the city. It is not clear which former South African Premiership coach is on the shortlist between Calvin Johnson and Mark Harrison.

It would appear from sources at the club that if Mafu agrees financial terms he will have a role to play either as head coach or assistant to Bulpin whom he is said to have excited with the idea of coming to coach in Southern Africa.

Bulpin is assistant coach at Millwall in the UK and is said to be eager on an African expedition having already coached in Asia.

Mafu recently completed a nine-month UEFA B licence course and holds, English, Germany and Zimbabwean coaching badges.

A Highlanders supporter himself, Mafu believes in attacking football popularised by the likes of Arsenal and Barcelona in the last decade and would add value to the Bosso junior policy as he has previously shown guts and thrown rookies into Premiership action.

A missing link partially attended to by Mark Mathe and Cosmas Zulu was the infusion of young players in the last three seasons. Highlanders bought more players than they did from 1980 to 1995 but still failed to break Dynamos’ dominance of local football under Callisto Pasuwa.

Mafu’s best was finishing third with Zimbabwe Saints in the Zimbabwean Premiership before stints in Botswana and the UK.

Lloyd Mutasa too is believed to have shown interest in the Bosso job. He plays a neat passing game.

His biggest undoing like other good coaches on the local market like Luke Masomere, Moses Chunga and Saul Chaminuka could be that he is not a Bulawayo boy.

Another dark horse for the Highlanders coaching job could be Philani Ncube formerly with How Mine. The former Coach of the Year has never hidden his desire to some day land the job.

With Elvis Chiweshe having joined Harare City juniors last week, he seems to have thrown himself out of contention for the job. The former Eagles, Highlanders and utility player has Champions League experience but has expressed his willingness to nurture young talent at Harare municipality side.

Another coach who had been tipped by fans to return as assistant coach Mkhuphali Masuku has joined Harare City as Taurai Mangwiro’s assistant coach.