Killing Dynamos softly, slowly

SO Dynamos were in the news again this past week. Not for the glamour that had come to define the Harare giants over the past decades but the plethora of problems bedevilling them.

Coach Lloyd "Samaita" Mutasa was subtly promoted to the role of technical director through demotion by promotion due to a poor run of results. Captain Ocean "Gungwa" Mushure is a troubled soul, has skipped training owing to personal problem and resorted to not pitching up for training as he holds out for the outstanding dues the club still owes him.

Then a ray of both light and hope flickered through the dark cloud hovering above the insanely popular side – the team snatching an important victory away at Bulawayo Chiefs on Sunday following some yoyo form in the past four games that triggered the "elevation" of Samaita.

But something is wrong somewhere somehow at Dynamos. Terribly wrong.

No one seems to want to own up to the troubles besetting Zimbabwe's biggest football club.

There is no doubt that their supporters – that ever static, mythical seven million fan base – are weeping and may eventually drown in their own tears. And it looks like virtually everyone at the club is under immense pressure and may, genuinely concerned, want to help out but keep being preoccupied by the same problems.

Inevitably, everyone becomes so consumed by trying to individually prove that they are playing their bit part for the good and in the best interest of the team.

But will DeMbare not pool their minds and pull in the same direction because theirs is a shared concern and collective responsibility? Why do they not become Dynamos United?

Left to their own vices, eventually some elements at the club will exonerate themselves and, in their infallibility, apportion the blame onto scapegoats.

But one thing for certain is that the record champions have a nauseatingly warped way of doing business.

After leaping to a huge step last season, which saw them challenging and coming closer to winning the championship again as they ended up runners-up, they now look like they are taking a quantum nosedive and appear off balance.

They have lost two of their best players of last season — marksman Christian Joel Ntouba Epoupa and enforcer Tichaona Chipunza — a pair that powered their title tilt.

Now "Ngoda", as they sometimes call Mushure, remains unavailable and, thus, this shining gem's continued absence has somewhat dimmed their prospects for this campaign as his goals and assists from last season will prove.

Before that, in the previous season, DeMbare had also uncannily lost Godknows Murwira.

And it looks like the next coach to perch into the hottest seat in local football coaching may have to work his brains to the skull if he is to sample any success of sorts.

Apparently some thieves have kissed Dynamos and the club should be counting their teeth right now.

This is killing DeMbare. Softly. Slowly. Surely.

The circus that has continued to play out at the no-longer-so-Glamour(ous) Boys in the recent past has seen them hiring a Portuguese jester — Paulo Jorge Silva — a clown dressed in borrowed robes as a football coach.

Prior to that Tonderai "Stanza" Ndiraya had also unceremoniously left (which is a story for another day) as had David "Yogi" Mandigora and Kallisto Pasuwa before him.

Dynamos are dying. Rather, someone or some mafia are running and, therefore, killing them.

But how do some people in the DeMbare top brass wake up at peace with themselves, go to the stadium with a clear conscience to watch their team, then go back home and still find bliss in the arms of Morpheus given the present state of affairs at the club?

Our brothers at our sister paper The Herald sports desk have described the environment at Dynamos as "toxic."

This culture of insolence is crippling Dynamos and, on the whole, is not good for business, least of all Dynamos and the local football landscape in its entirety.

If it is about football that you care let's share the cheer because we are made for the game, mad about the game!

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