Methembe set for dugout return

BANTU Rovers director Methembe Ndlovu is set to make a sensational return to the dugout when he takes charge of his side this season.

Rovers won the Zifa Southern Region Division One championship under former star midfielder Johannes Ngodzo, but following a directive from Zifa that only Caf A licence holders will be allowed to take charge of Premiership teams, Ngodzo, a Caf C licence holder, can only be an assistant in the topflight.

The Zifa assembly resolved that two teams from the PSL be relegated to the second tier, while four are promoted, but the league has not changed its stance of two in and two out. The PSL is set to kick-off in April.

There had been rumours that Agent Ajira Sawu will take over the reins, but he too only recently attended a Caf B course that was conducted in Bulawayo late last year.

"Mokse, (as Ndlovu is known in football circles) has decided to take to the wheel himself, just  like what Jomo Sono is doing at Jomo Cosmos in South Africa. From what I understand, he has also stepped down as Grassroots country director," said a source.

However, Bantu Rovers' general manager Wilbert Sibanda refuted the claims, saying they were yet to sit down as a committee to deliberate on the head coach's position.

"We will be sitting down with a couple of guys to deliberate on the issue and Methembe, being the technical director, needs to be there. I am not aware that he wants to get back into coaching and if he wants to, he is yet to inform me," said Sibanda.

Ndlovu, a PSL title winning coach with Highlanders in 2006, is outside the country at the moment and could not be reached for comment.

Meanwhile, Bantu Rovers started preparations for the 2017 season at Crescent Sports Club yesterday with high hopes of PSL football when the relegation and promotion impasse is resolved.

Sibanda said the training session that started yesterday is aimed at assessing junior players graduating to the senior team ahead of the main pre-season training in a fortnight's time.

"We will start training today (yesterday), but this one is not the main one. The aim of this training is to assess our junior players from the Under-18 team that are graduating to the senior team. We have a number of players from our juniors, who really impressed last season, so we want to give them a chance.

Some guys from the technical team will not be there, but we have called our fitness trainers and doctors to check fitness levels," said Sibanda.

Among the new signings that joined yesterday's training are the 2016 Zifa Bulawayo Province Division Two and Three top goal scorers Leeroy Mbewe and Tristen Gumede respectively. Mbewe netted 26 goals for Division Two champions Chiwororo, while Gumede scored 17 goals for Las Palmas.

"These youngsters deserve a chance because they really did well in their respective teams last season. We hope they will add more flavour to the team together with our Under-18s, who were undefeated last season. You will notice that our training sessions will comprise mostly youngsters with two or three senior payers to help with experience and encouragement. We hope to nurture and perfect such talent as we prepare for the 2017 season," Sibanda said.

If their promotion to the PSL is is confirmed, Bantu Rovers will be joined by other Zifa regional champions Black Rhinos (Northern), Shabanie Mine (Central) and Yadah FC (Eastern).