Sports / Soccer
Media persecution cannot keep a good man down: Rahman Gumbo
05 Feb 2012 at 05:40hrs | Views
The FC Platinum head coach, Rahman Gumbo on Sunday told the Daily News that no amount of media persecution can derail his endeavour to make the Zvishavane club a football powerhouse.
The former national team midfielder, who had a successful coaching stint with Bulawayo giants Highlanders, has been a subject of fierce criticism in some sections of the media.
Gumbo's decision to join the platinum miners also attracted the ire of Highlanders fans who had been angered by the Zvishavane club's poaching of coaches and players.
Former Tshilamoya sons, Peter Nkomo 'Captain Oxo', the goalkeepers' coach and Philani Mabhena who is now with the developmental side currently playing in division one, are now part of the ambitious Zvishavane club.
Apart from the coaching staff, Kugona kunenge kudada also lured former Highlanders players, brothers Joel and Zephaniah Ngodzo, Brighton Dube and Menard Mupera at the beginning of last season.
This off-season the Zvishavane miners returned to Bosso to sign captain Gilbert Banda and Louis Matawu.
Gumbo who has won the league title in Botswana, Malawi and Zimbabwe is philosophical about the treatment that he gets from media and the fans.
"To me it is part and parcel of life," said the Platinum coach "Things happen like that. "Some people say good things about me while others choose to be negative but at the end of the day you cannot put a good man down," Gumbo said.
Sports writers have often struggled to obtain a comment from the FC Platinum coach who blames this attitude on excessive media intrusion.
Gumbo has delegated his assistant coach, Tendai Chikuni to speak to the media on his behalf.
At a rare media session between the Premier soccer League coaches and the media at Rufaro Stadium last Friday, Gumbo called for mutual understanding between the two parties and encouraged the scribes to write objectively.
"The problem is that sometimes the reporters don't understand you but with this meeting I believe we now have a better understanding of one another.
"I am against this idea of journalists hiding behind "reliable sources". I think it's better to mention names," said Gumbo.
The former national team midfielder, who had a successful coaching stint with Bulawayo giants Highlanders, has been a subject of fierce criticism in some sections of the media.
Gumbo's decision to join the platinum miners also attracted the ire of Highlanders fans who had been angered by the Zvishavane club's poaching of coaches and players.
Former Tshilamoya sons, Peter Nkomo 'Captain Oxo', the goalkeepers' coach and Philani Mabhena who is now with the developmental side currently playing in division one, are now part of the ambitious Zvishavane club.
Apart from the coaching staff, Kugona kunenge kudada also lured former Highlanders players, brothers Joel and Zephaniah Ngodzo, Brighton Dube and Menard Mupera at the beginning of last season.
This off-season the Zvishavane miners returned to Bosso to sign captain Gilbert Banda and Louis Matawu.
Gumbo who has won the league title in Botswana, Malawi and Zimbabwe is philosophical about the treatment that he gets from media and the fans.
"To me it is part and parcel of life," said the Platinum coach "Things happen like that. "Some people say good things about me while others choose to be negative but at the end of the day you cannot put a good man down," Gumbo said.
Sports writers have often struggled to obtain a comment from the FC Platinum coach who blames this attitude on excessive media intrusion.
Gumbo has delegated his assistant coach, Tendai Chikuni to speak to the media on his behalf.
At a rare media session between the Premier soccer League coaches and the media at Rufaro Stadium last Friday, Gumbo called for mutual understanding between the two parties and encouraged the scribes to write objectively.
"The problem is that sometimes the reporters don't understand you but with this meeting I believe we now have a better understanding of one another.
"I am against this idea of journalists hiding behind "reliable sources". I think it's better to mention names," said Gumbo.
Source - Daily News
