Sports / Local
Soma-Phiri rules out taking up the assistant coaching job
18 Dec 2015 at 05:58hrs | Views
OUTGOING Highlanders' interim coach Amini Soma-Phiri yesterday all but ruled out taking up the Bulawayo giants' assistant coaching job ahead of the imminent arrival of a substantive foreign head coach that the club's chief executive officer Ndumiso Gumede said would be arriving "anytime soon".
Soma-Phiri also described statements attributed to club vice-chairman Mgcini Mpofu as an insult and abuse to his person, and said he believed that he has gone through the mill as a coach and was now ripe to be the big man at Bosso.
Mpofu said on Monday night that while they acknowledged Soma-Phiri's achievement, he was not good enough for the Bosso hot seat. Soma-Phiri hit back saying: "Umuntu oright ekhanda ngeke akhulume such statements. It's abusing me."
Gumede told the media at the club's weekly Press conference yesterday that they would start identifying assistant coaches when the "big man" comes, in reference to the coach widely believed to be Dutchman Erol Akbay, who was highly recommended to Bosso by the club's long-time benefactor Tshinga Dube.
However, Soma-Phiri said if he was to take a role at Bosso next season, two conditions had to be met first.
"First I want to be given a role where I will be respected. I want respect because right now I don't think I'm given that respect. Probably the respect we have now is because we rescued a situation. With the way things were going on social media, the talk then was a petition against the executive," said Soma-Phiri.
"Secondly I want people who will trust and believe in me, not people abazangijikela inyoka trying to expose uAmini."
He questioned what new things he would learn from the new man.
"It's a little bit tricky; this new man said to be coming, what really will he be teaching me? I don't think I can learn anything from anyone right now; I have gone through the mill.
"I have worked with so many coaches at many clubs here in Zimbabwe and South Africa, and I don't see anyone coming to teach me anything, unless if he will be coming from Mars. "Maybe that is when I can take up that post of assistant coach.
"Even then, I have to give it a lot of thought before I take up the post. I want a post where I will also be the big man, so I have to consider it seriously but it will be very difficult," Soma-Phiri said.
He said if he does not get the big post, he would consider various offers from other Premiership clubs that are impressed with his fairytale run at Highlanders.
Soma-Phiri said he would not even assist the new man by identifying players to don the famous black and white jersey.
"I will be honest with you and get me correctly and clearly. I am a man with a family; I don't think it's fair for the club to ask me to choose players for someone else. Why can't he come and choose for himself?
"I'm not a dustbin that takes all the chuff and I don't think it's fair for me to choose players for someone else when I'll not be there. Let him come and choose for himself.
"I even told the executive that they are asking us to select players for them but are not talking about our future. I can't do that for the second time; saving Highlanders without being paid when someone else gets paid $2,000 another $4,000 per month. I worked knowing that someone was being paid, but I was working without any salary and I would be told that wonalawo amagames ozawadlala yikho okumele uhole khona. Yikujikelwa inyoka lokhu. So really do you expect me to work for another man?"
Soma-Phiri said they had worked under very difficult circumstances where no man would have agreed to venture.
"We thank the executive for giving us a chance to prove ourselves. Maybe they were trying to silence us because some believed we talk too much, but little did they know that we were proven coaches. We saved the executive as the technical team and I know within the executive there are some who are not happy that we achieved this because they put us there to silence us as we were heavy critics," said Soma-Phiri.
He said it was not for the first time that he had come to the rescue of Highlanders as he did that in 1997 during the twilight of his career as a player and in 2012 as manager under Kelvin Kaindu.
"We played very well (in 2012) and went for 23 games unbeaten, but umnyaka uthe uphela my contract was not renewed and instead they put in my friend, the late Willard Khumalo thinking that I will be angry because I was coming from another so called faction which was not wanted, Amavevane, a social group which I will never leave.
"So here comes 2015 Amini again comes to rescue the situation. They said let us silence him, he talks too much, but little did they know that I was always ready. We achieved the target they had given us. I even told them in one of the meetings that I was going to lift this cup (Easycall) and some of them sarcastically laughed at me, but here we are, the cup is in front of me."
Soma-Phiri also described statements attributed to club vice-chairman Mgcini Mpofu as an insult and abuse to his person, and said he believed that he has gone through the mill as a coach and was now ripe to be the big man at Bosso.
Mpofu said on Monday night that while they acknowledged Soma-Phiri's achievement, he was not good enough for the Bosso hot seat. Soma-Phiri hit back saying: "Umuntu oright ekhanda ngeke akhulume such statements. It's abusing me."
Gumede told the media at the club's weekly Press conference yesterday that they would start identifying assistant coaches when the "big man" comes, in reference to the coach widely believed to be Dutchman Erol Akbay, who was highly recommended to Bosso by the club's long-time benefactor Tshinga Dube.
However, Soma-Phiri said if he was to take a role at Bosso next season, two conditions had to be met first.
"First I want to be given a role where I will be respected. I want respect because right now I don't think I'm given that respect. Probably the respect we have now is because we rescued a situation. With the way things were going on social media, the talk then was a petition against the executive," said Soma-Phiri.
"Secondly I want people who will trust and believe in me, not people abazangijikela inyoka trying to expose uAmini."
He questioned what new things he would learn from the new man.
"It's a little bit tricky; this new man said to be coming, what really will he be teaching me? I don't think I can learn anything from anyone right now; I have gone through the mill.
"I have worked with so many coaches at many clubs here in Zimbabwe and South Africa, and I don't see anyone coming to teach me anything, unless if he will be coming from Mars. "Maybe that is when I can take up that post of assistant coach.
"Even then, I have to give it a lot of thought before I take up the post. I want a post where I will also be the big man, so I have to consider it seriously but it will be very difficult," Soma-Phiri said.
He said if he does not get the big post, he would consider various offers from other Premiership clubs that are impressed with his fairytale run at Highlanders.
Soma-Phiri said he would not even assist the new man by identifying players to don the famous black and white jersey.
"I will be honest with you and get me correctly and clearly. I am a man with a family; I don't think it's fair for the club to ask me to choose players for someone else. Why can't he come and choose for himself?
"I'm not a dustbin that takes all the chuff and I don't think it's fair for me to choose players for someone else when I'll not be there. Let him come and choose for himself.
"I even told the executive that they are asking us to select players for them but are not talking about our future. I can't do that for the second time; saving Highlanders without being paid when someone else gets paid $2,000 another $4,000 per month. I worked knowing that someone was being paid, but I was working without any salary and I would be told that wonalawo amagames ozawadlala yikho okumele uhole khona. Yikujikelwa inyoka lokhu. So really do you expect me to work for another man?"
Soma-Phiri said they had worked under very difficult circumstances where no man would have agreed to venture.
"We thank the executive for giving us a chance to prove ourselves. Maybe they were trying to silence us because some believed we talk too much, but little did they know that we were proven coaches. We saved the executive as the technical team and I know within the executive there are some who are not happy that we achieved this because they put us there to silence us as we were heavy critics," said Soma-Phiri.
He said it was not for the first time that he had come to the rescue of Highlanders as he did that in 1997 during the twilight of his career as a player and in 2012 as manager under Kelvin Kaindu.
"We played very well (in 2012) and went for 23 games unbeaten, but umnyaka uthe uphela my contract was not renewed and instead they put in my friend, the late Willard Khumalo thinking that I will be angry because I was coming from another so called faction which was not wanted, Amavevane, a social group which I will never leave.
"So here comes 2015 Amini again comes to rescue the situation. They said let us silence him, he talks too much, but little did they know that I was always ready. We achieved the target they had given us. I even told them in one of the meetings that I was going to lift this cup (Easycall) and some of them sarcastically laughed at me, but here we are, the cup is in front of me."
Source - chronicle
