Moses Chunga to be fired?

MOSES Chunga could be on his way out of Harare City, just over two months after taking over the reins from sacked, Taurai Mangwiro.

Impeccable sources yesterday revealed that the Dynamos legend could see his contract, which expires at the end of the season, prematurely terminated as early as next week.

According to the sources, the impending decision to sack Chunga stems from the team's poor performances since he took over at the start of June, which could be as a result of a breakdown in his relationship with senior players.

Chunga and Raphael Manuvire reportedly cannot stand the sight of each other, to the extent that the midfielder, a major signing for the club at the start of the season, has stopped reporting for training.

Before deciding to go Awol a few days ago, the midfielder had not seen action under Chunga.

Other reports suggest that Chunga's relationship with players such as Themba Ndhlovu - the team captain before the arrival of the Dynamos legend - Tafadzwa Dube, Edwin Madhanaga and Tendai Samanja has deteriorated, while Agrippa Murimba had been frozen out.

Ndhlovu has since been stripped of the armband and has not been given a chance to play by Chunga.

"Things are not well in the camp and Chunga could be fired in the next seven days," a well-placed source said.

"The executive is not happy with the way things have been going since he took over. The results are not coming, but it is his relationship with some senior players, especially Manuvire and Ndhlovu, which they are not particularly happy with."

The source said a crisis meeting between the club executive and Chunga was held in Bulawayo on the eve of their defeat to How Mine last week, where the riot act was reportedly read.

The loss to the Bulawayo side was the team's fourth in the 10 matches he has been in charge of.

Chunga has two wins and four draws.

The team was on 10th position when he took charge, but are currently 11th with 23 points.

City next host Border Strikers at Rufaro Stadium on Saturday before facing Dynamos the following weekend, at which point, Chunga may have been fired.

"Even if he gets maximum points from those matches, there is no guarantee for his safety," another source said.
"The executive are assessing the team's performance, as well as his relationship with the players. The next seven days will be very critical, it's a watershed week for him."

When asked about the reports yesterday, Harare City Football Club communications manager, Hope Chizuzu responded: "As far as we are concerned, Moses Chunga is still our coach and, as I'm speaking to you, he is preparing the team to face Border Strikers. But there are concerns to do with the lack of results from the club's point of view since he took over and the fans have been complaining, the executive is not happy and our stakeholders are worried. It has come to the attention of the executive that there is need to look at the team's performance, but we haven't made a decision to either dispense of him or to look for somebody else to help him."

On reports that there is a rift between Chunga and most senior players in particular Manuvire and Ndhlovu, Chizuzu said: "It is true and we have even seen it for ourselves. There are certain players, who have not been selected, but because we are not the ones who train them, we are not sure of the reasons why they are not being picked. But we have a feeling that some of them deserve to play. Some of the young players, who he has been playing, are not doing what is expected of them, especially in the absence of the senior players to guide them, which could be the reason for the lack of good results.

"As the executive, we expect good results, we did not change our expectations from the beginning of the year, where we had said we want a top-three finish under Mangwiro. The target still remains the same, whether it is him (Chunga) finishing the season or another coach, so he knows he is expected to finish a credible third position or better."

Chizuzu said Manuvire was facing disciplinary action for absconding training and matches.

City finished eighth last season, but made up for it by winning the Chibuku Super Cup, enabling them to represent the country in the Caf Confederation Cup. However, they could not go beyond the first round of the continental club competition.

This season's target is more ambitious for the well-sponsored side - a top-three finish.

To do it, they raided the market and signed top players in Manuvire, Madhanaga and Ronald Chitiyo, giving their fans a lot of optimism.

Instead, it has unravelled so quickly. Mangwiro was fired just eight matches into the season.