Sports / Local
Bosso beg players to stay
12 Jan 2014 at 09:26hrs | Views
AFTER watching Masimba Mambare and then Njabulo Ncube depart for greener pastures, Bulawayo giants Highlanders are said to be frantically begging players not to leave the club despite not having standing contracts with Bosso.
Highlanders lost Mambare and Ncube to Dynamos and FC Platinum, respectively, and are understood to be in a pickle following news from within the camp that there are fears of a mass exodus ahead of the 2014 season.
Several top players are free to leave the club after their previous contracts expired on December 31 last year. Added to that there are also accusations that a prominent member of the club's executive told out of contract players that the club would "be getting rid of them and signing better players who don't love money".
This has angered many of the players most of whom have not received their signing-on fees for last season and feel that the club is being disrespectful and unwilling to re-sign them to avoid paying them their dues.
However, in light of the shock departures of Mambare and Ncube and the attention Munyaradzi Diya, Milton Ncube, Bruce Kangwa and Peter "Rio" Moyo have been receiving, the club has since moved to try and negotiate with the players to sign new contracts.
Speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid persecution, one player said he had been told in December that his contract would not be renewed in 2014, but was surprised when he was offered a new deal on Thursday.
"Towards the end of last year, the club did not seem interested in negotiation with us instead they told us that we would not be offered new contracts. I was surprised when I got a call on Thursday saying I must come to the office to negotiate a new contract," said the affected player.
The issue of signing-on fees is the centre of the club's player crises with revelations that many of all of the 2014 squad either did not get their entire signing-on fees or were given part payments.
A source within the club's management structures confirmed that at the end of last year, there had been a resolution not to retain some of the players who are owed monies, but they have since been forced to go back to these players and beg them to stay.
"In December there was some initiative to get rid of players whom we still owe signing-on fees for 2013 in an effort to delay paying them their dues.
But after Masimba and Njabulo left we realised that it would be in our best interests to go back and ask them to stay. In any case it would be more expensive to sign new players than to negotiate with current ones and come up with a payment plan for their unpaid dues," said the source.
Highlanders are currently saddled with massive debts and still owe players and coaches who have since left the club. When Gilbert Banda left Highlanders to join FC Platinum in 2012, he wrote off what the club owed him in unpaid bonuses and signing-on fees as a donation to Bosso, while Madinda Ndlovu and Mkhuphali Masuku are still waiting to be paid their monies by the club.
Highlanders lost Mambare and Ncube to Dynamos and FC Platinum, respectively, and are understood to be in a pickle following news from within the camp that there are fears of a mass exodus ahead of the 2014 season.
Several top players are free to leave the club after their previous contracts expired on December 31 last year. Added to that there are also accusations that a prominent member of the club's executive told out of contract players that the club would "be getting rid of them and signing better players who don't love money".
This has angered many of the players most of whom have not received their signing-on fees for last season and feel that the club is being disrespectful and unwilling to re-sign them to avoid paying them their dues.
However, in light of the shock departures of Mambare and Ncube and the attention Munyaradzi Diya, Milton Ncube, Bruce Kangwa and Peter "Rio" Moyo have been receiving, the club has since moved to try and negotiate with the players to sign new contracts.
Speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid persecution, one player said he had been told in December that his contract would not be renewed in 2014, but was surprised when he was offered a new deal on Thursday.
"Towards the end of last year, the club did not seem interested in negotiation with us instead they told us that we would not be offered new contracts. I was surprised when I got a call on Thursday saying I must come to the office to negotiate a new contract," said the affected player.
The issue of signing-on fees is the centre of the club's player crises with revelations that many of all of the 2014 squad either did not get their entire signing-on fees or were given part payments.
A source within the club's management structures confirmed that at the end of last year, there had been a resolution not to retain some of the players who are owed monies, but they have since been forced to go back to these players and beg them to stay.
"In December there was some initiative to get rid of players whom we still owe signing-on fees for 2013 in an effort to delay paying them their dues.
But after Masimba and Njabulo left we realised that it would be in our best interests to go back and ask them to stay. In any case it would be more expensive to sign new players than to negotiate with current ones and come up with a payment plan for their unpaid dues," said the source.
Highlanders are currently saddled with massive debts and still owe players and coaches who have since left the club. When Gilbert Banda left Highlanders to join FC Platinum in 2012, he wrote off what the club owed him in unpaid bonuses and signing-on fees as a donation to Bosso, while Madinda Ndlovu and Mkhuphali Masuku are still waiting to be paid their monies by the club.
Source - sundaymail
