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Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
THE 18 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League governors meet in Harare tomorrow to vote for a new chairman that will lead the organisation for the next four years.

Caps United president Farai Jere and Triangle United chairman Lovemore Matikinyidze are vying for the league’s top post.

Jere, who pulled out of the 2015 Zifa president race to make way for Phillip Chiyangwa, has held intensive campaigns in Bulawayo, the Midlands, Mutare and Harare.

Jere’s strategy is the same as that implemented by former Dynamos boss Kenny Mubaiwa when he was campaigning for the PSL position in 2016, a post he lost to ex-Highlanders boss Peter Dube by 11 votes to four.

In the build-up to the 2016 PSL elections, word was that Chiyangwa was backing Mubaiwa and there are certain quarters that believe Jere, who was election manager for Chiyangwa in 2015, has the Zifa boss’ seal of approval.

In his campaign message, Jere has been preaching the gospel of infrastructure development as well as amending the PSL constitution to bridge differences with Zifa.

He also spoke about borrowing a number of tips from the South African PSL, which has transformed its topflight league into the most lucrative league in Africa.

Acquiring property for PSL tops Jere’s manifesto.

On the other hand, Matikinyidze did not embark on an all-out campaign trail.

“Well, I feel there’s no need for one to go all out campaigning for the PSL chairmanship post, unless one has other personal interests. By the way, this election race is not about personal glory, it’s a team thing,” Matikinyidze wrote in our sister paper, The Sunday Mail.

The Triangle United chairman believes the governors know his and Jere’s capabilities, hence they will vote wisely and is confident his colleagues that nominated him to serve in the emergency committee will retain their confidence in him.

Matikinyidze spoke about upholding corporate governance ethos and improving brand PSL. His desire is to respect and retain the current sponsorship with Delta Beverages and try to attract more partners to take the country’s football flagship to new heights.

“As a person who comes from the corporate world, I am driven by the need to transform the Premier Soccer League into a vibrant entity with proper best practices. I am a representative of a corporate owned team, Triangle, and we now have a number of corporate owned teams in the league, which I think is an advantage to the league.

“As representatives of corporates who sponsor soccer, we are trying to inculcate a culture of good governance, build a good PSL brand, grow the number of sponsors and put to good use the money we get from our valued sponsors,” Matikinyidze said.

“Henceforth, we will form sub-committees that will run various business persuasions for the Premier Soccer League. Running the PSL is not a one-man thing. I am talking about team effort and a collective management style that involves every governor because we are all professionals with capacity.”