Bosso technical team named

CITY football giants Highlanders Football Club yesterday confirmed Mandla Mpofu and Peter Nkomo as Bongani Mafu's assistants.

Nkomo will be in charge of goalkeepers.

Making the announcement at the club's offices, the chief executive officer Ndumiso Gumede also introduced new welfare manager Netsai Moyo who replaces club legend Willard Khumalo whose contract expired at the end of last year.

Sebastian Ndlovu who was in attendance too was retained as club doctor with Loyal Nyika as physiotherapist.

Gumede said they were confident that the new technical team would do well since they know the club's culture and desire.

"Our technical team is made up of people who are well aware of the club's culture and operations. I am confident that they are sons of Highlanders and have the club's interests at heart," he said.

Gumede said Cosmas Zulu will not be part of the technical team this year as he had been brought in to stabilise the difficult situation at the club after Kelvin Kaindu resigned.

"Cosmas Zulu will not be part of the technical team, he did a sterling job in stabilising the team after Kaindu left us, Zulu signed a one and a half month contract with us and today in the morning he ran his last session with the interns at Hartsfield Rugby Stadium. He has done a good job and we want to thank him for that," said Gumede.

He said the fitness trainer's position was no longer necessary at the club as Mafu is a qualified fitness specialist meaning that Majaha Ndlovu's services for the time being would not be needed.

"Mafu is a graduate of Hillside Teachers' College where he majored in French and physical education. He is a qualified fitness specialist and we have asked him to take that role as part of his duties meaning that Ndlovu's services for the time being are not needed," he said.

Gumede defended the appointment of a manager at a time the club was cutting expenditure following reduced sponsorship to both Highlanders and Dynamos by BancABC.

"The team manager's role is to assist the coach with some of his daily duties, we realised that there is a lot of pressure on Mafu hence the decision to retain the post of manager," he said.

Gumede urged the public and media to support Mafu as he is tasked with a tough job and carries a heavy load to revive the club.

"We should try our best to support Mafu, he is tasked with a very difficult job and negative comments will only discourage our coach," he said.

Mafu, one of the best qualified coaches in the land, has been criticised in some circles before he has even lost a single game. In his previous stint with Zimbabwe Saints he beat Dynamos and Highlanders.

Meanwhile, Gumede said the club was taking measures to reduce costs.

"Our sponsors have confirmed that they will be reducing our sponsorship so it is imperative that we also reduce costs," he said.

Bosso have already indicated that they will reduce the number of coaches in their junior set up.

At the moment they have Dumaza Dube, Melusi Sibanda, Gift Lunga (Junior), Dan Ngwenya and Smart Moyo, the welfare manager.