For his words shall never depart from my lips

In Joshua 1 verse 9 God told his servant Joshua: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

This verse has never departed from my lips since I joined this profession 24 years ago.

In 1997, during the Cosafa Castle Cup match between Malawi and Namibia at Kamuzu Stadium, I had the shock of my life when two Wanderers supporters nearly hit me with a beer bottle for criticising their team which was embroiled in mismanagement of funds.

Ironically, the two ‘terrorists’ were blood brothers, who later became my friends. They both died two years after the incident.

On June 5 2005, at the same Kamuzu Stadium premises, I was viciously attacked by three unidentified thugs. I was stabbed thrice before being hit with a beer bottle but, by God’s grace, I survived the ordeal.

Sadly, the mastermind of the plot, who was a well known football official, also died three years later. May his soul rest in eternal peace.

On Wednesday this week, I had another shock of my life when people calling themselves concerned Bullets supporters descended on me at the same stadium, baying for my blood.

The bone of contention was a Times Radio sports programme, Sports 360 Degrees, for which I happen to be the guest, and has been critical of the role of Bullets’ supporters in issues of commercialisation.

It is a straight forward issue but some people have deliberately decided to complicate it for their own benefit. I have no apologies to make for the stand I have taken on the issue. This is the attitude that has trapped this team in the depth of despair for a long time.

My piece of advice to Bullets supporters is that they can delay change but they cannot stop it. Commercialisation, and indeed Club Licensing System, is here to stay. Every Super League team needs legal ownership to be in tandem with football practices the world over.

Much as supporters play a crucial role of supporting the club, the fact remains that they do not have legal mandate to negotiate contracts on behalf of the club.

Any club needs to have a fully-fledged secretariat to run the affairs of the team if progress has to be made.

In football, we anticipate disagreements because that is part of the game, but going to the extent of hiring hoodlums to unleash terror on your critics is unacceptable and criminal.

Now I will still roar back like a wounded lioness and smash my enemies with telling articles.