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Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
NO doubt, Bulawayo Chiefs FC have managed to endear themselves to fans for their brand of football and hilarious and engaging social media presence.

For a club that will celebrate its 10th anniversary in four months’ time, Chiefs are the most followed local club on twitter with 53  800 followers, 10 000 more than the country’s oldest club Highlanders.

Their catchy, witty and humorous posts on social media drew football followers to their accounts and they have managed to take advantage of the huge following to innovate.

In May this year, they dropped their latest offering in the market by unveiling their own clothing line called Amakhosi Wear.

It is the growing fan base that has inspired Chiefs to establish its own brand, which it hopes will take the local scene by storm.

“As we expand the business aspects of the club, we’ve come up with a fine brand, something for everyone, hence the clothing brand’s tagline ‘BUILT FOR EVERYONE” which clearly conveys a message that Amakhosi Wear is for everyone,” said Chiefs director Lovemore Sibanda.

An innovative Chiefs team is seized with producing products that exhilarate the market.

Inspired by the desire to utilise local resources and contribute to the growth of the economy, trendsetters Chiefs are also the first local club to create their own sportswear.

They used local designers and tailors to produce the “high” quality kits and replicas that are on sale at Chiefs’ sports shop known as The Kraal.

Chiefs were established in 2012, as an offshoot of Emakhandeni Pirates and first won the Southern Region Division One title in their second year in the second tier league in 2013.

They sold the Premiership franchise to now defunct Bantu Rovers under the guise of a partnership.

They regrouped, with their director Sibanda, a local businessman with interests in farming and mining, defying economic challenges to keep the club afloat at a time when most individually-owned teams collapsed.

The club won the Southern Region title in 2017, and this time around they kept their franchise.
In the 2018 and 2019 seasons, Chiefs fought relegation from the start of the season, finishing both seasons with 41 points.

They managed to save their PSL status twice with relatively unknown players, with their ability to use unheralded players to bring down giants like Highlanders, FC Platinum and Chicken Inn earning them recognition from neutrals. Thulani Sibanda, a holder of a Sports Science degree from the National University of Science and

Technology (Nust), was the architect behind the giants’ fall and Chiefs’ survival in the Premiership.
Seeing the likes of forward Perfect Chikwende, who now turns out for Tanzania giants Simba SC, scoring the solitary goal against Botswana in the penultimate Afcon 2021 qualifier group match in March, which sealed Zimbabwe’s qualification for the fifth Afcon finals gave the Chiefs’ director satisfaction.
But from the blues, Chiefs decided to refocus and fired all their coaching staff members at the beginning of the week.

It was a shocking decision considering that Chiefs hadn’t performed too badly in the first round of Chibuku Super Cup, where they lost twice to Highlanders and Chicken Inn before drawing against Bulawayo City. In all the Chibuku Super Cup matches they played, Chiefs were a marvel to watch, with their shortcomings only in the final third.

The Ninjas indicated that they were on the hunt for a striker to finish off the puzzle, but surprisingly, they went on for defenders and midfielders.

Insiders said Chiefs’ administrators didn’t consult the fired technical team in making the new signings.

There has been speculation that the incoming foreign head coach, who will be assisted by Mark Mathe and Farai Tawachera, was involved in player recruitment during the Covid-19 football suspension.

After their ship steadied in the PSL, with confidence in the technical team growing, one wonders if Chiefs have taken the right decision by disbanding their technical team.

Could there be an unknown issue that led to the firing of the coaches?

Have Chiefs shot themselves in the foot by sacking coaches that had given them an identity?
Only time will tell, but the club’s proprietor feels the new path is necessary.

“We’re not losing focus. We will remain a club that gives opportunity to youngsters and unheralded talent. The incoming coaches know that as much as we don’t want to be considered as relegation fighters from the first whistle, we have to produce players. We will still get players from our development side and these seasoned players we have signed are coming to give us depth and guidance.