Zimpapers Logo

Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter

BEING revered at Shabanie Mine as a footballer didn’t not deter  the then deadly goal scorer Patrick Mandizha from joining their fiercest rivals who seemed to be financially better off.

This was in 2009 when Mandizha, then a fiery hitman who had been playing for Black Rhinos, decided to dump his childhood team and join across town rivals Mimosa (now FC Platinum).

The rivalry between the two sides’ sets of supporters is still there up to now but Mandizha says in life its all about knowing where your bread is buttered than trying to please other people.

“To me, joining FC Platinum still remains one of my best decisions I ever made in life. I made a decision which I felt and still feel was the best for me and my family and not for the next person and believe me, I have no regrets whatsoever,” said Mandizha, now the second assistant coach at the team that has won the championship for three consecutive years.

He joined the side while it was still in Division One and fighting for the sole ticket to the Premier Soccer League where it was a two horse race between them and another Midlands side Chapungu United.

“I scored a couple of goals which kept us in the race, including against Shabanie Mine at Maglas Stadium but the one I remember most was when we played against Hardbody. It was the only goal and it took us to the PSL. I remember that I scored using my head but up to now some people still think I used my foot, it was a bullet I tell you,” said Mandizha during an interview at Mandava Stadium on Tuesday this week.

Mandizha says as the club celebrates its Silver Jubilee, he feels great to be part of the people that somehow helped bring success to the institution where he has been a player and now one of the think-tanks.

“I owe so much to what I am today to the institution and somehow feel I haven’t done enough to repay the faith, trust and investment of this organisation,” he said.

Like everyone else who was there in 2011, Mandizha is still haunted by the death of former coach Benjamin Moyo.

“Coach Benjie is one who introduced me to coaching because when he joined us, he asked me to be one of his backroom staff probably as a local boy and truly speaking his death badly affected me as it did  the rest of the people associated with the club. As we mark 25 years of existence our memories are still very fresh regarding events of that dark day,” said Mandizha.