Be Forward Wanderers Chairperson, Gift Mkandawire, has admitted that all is not well at the club, following the Nomads’ sloppy performance during Football Association of Malawi (Fam) Charity Shield at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe over the weekend.
Mkandawire was reacting to Wanderers’ back-to-back 2-0 and 1-0 losses to Silver Strikers and Kamuzu Barracks on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
“We can’t be happy with a loss, so it is really worrying. To be honest, we saw this coming because our pre-season has been very bad. Our scoring has been bad. Sometimes even playing against small teams, we could come back with a draw. The indicators were there.
“I cannot disclose what we plan to do but, definitely, we are going to do something to turn the tables. We have to change the way we play and start scoring. We have some issues, yes, but these are things we will sort out. Wherever there are two or three people, chances are always high that there will be different [lines of] thinking,” Mkandawire said.
A source at Wanderers said the team’s Executive and Supporters committees were expected to meet yesterday separately to discuss the way forward.
The Nomads Supporters Committee General Secretary, Sam Mponda, said the Executive Committee is aware of the problems in the team but it was delaying in acting on them.
During Saturday’s second semi-final match against Silver, eyebrows were raised in Wanderers’ camp when the captain’s armband was given to Esau Kanyenda instead of Alfred Manyozo Junior.
Recently, Kanyenda and Joseph Kamwendo threatened to resign from the team over the captaincy wrangle, forcing the Executive Committee to hand it over to Manyozo.
But Wanderers Team Manager, Steve Madeira, yesterday insisted that the captaincy wrangle was sorted out.
“When Manyozo is not available, the arm band goes to either [Lucky] Malata or [Mike] Kaziputa. If both are not around, it is up to the technical panel to decide who leads others. “So, the panel decided to give it to Kanyenda but, when he was taken off and Manyozo camein, he took back his armband. Let me make it clear that Wanderers’ Captain is Manyozo,” he said.
Wanderers Head Coach, Yasin Osman, has since questioned the attitude of some of his charges during the Charity Shield.
“The young players that came in the second-half made a big difference and they committed themselves as they were fighting for the ball. We have to tell our players that nobody has a permanent position in the team; that they must change their attitude and fight for their positions. We have to make changes to the team,” Osman said in a post-match interview on Sunday.
The veteran mentor substituted Captain of the day Kanyenda, Kamwendo and Stanley Sanudi for Khumbo Ng’ambi, Felix Zulu and Dennis Chembezi, respectively, on Saturday.
In Sunday’s game against Kamuzu Barracks, Osman relegated to the bench Kamwendo, Kanyenda, Peter Wadabwa and Sanudi.
Manyozo has since apologised to all Nomads’ fans.
“We know that we have disappointed them and we also feel their pain. They came out to support us and we are grateful for that. They must continue supporting us like they have been doing. This is work in progress and we will get the team to greater heights,” he said.
Silver and Wanderers will also meet next week in the TNM Super League opening match at a venue yet to be announced.— Additional reporting by Arkangel Tembo, Mana
Be Forward Wanderers Chairperson, Gift Mkandawire, has admitted that all is not well at the club, following the Nomads’ sloppy performance during Football Association of Malawi (Fam) Charity Shield at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe over the weekend.
Mkandawire was reacting to Wanderers’ back-to-back 2-0 and 1-0 losses to Silver Strikers and Kamuzu Barracks on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
“We can’t be happy with a loss, so it is really worrying. To be honest, we saw this coming because our pre-season has been very bad. Our scoring has been bad. Sometimes even playing against small teams, we could come back with a draw. The indicators were there.
“I cannot disclose what we plan to do but, definitely, we are going to do something to turn the tables. We have to change the way we play and start scoring. We have some issues, yes, but these are things we will sort out. Wherever there are two or three people, chances are always high that there will be different [lines of] thinking,” Mkandawire said.
A source at Wanderers said the team’s Executive and Supporters committees were expected to meet yesterday separately to discuss the way forward.
The Nomads Supporters Committee General Secretary, Sam Mponda, said the Executive Committee is aware of the problems in the team but it was delaying in acting on them.
During Saturday’s second semi-final match against Silver, eyebrows were raised in Wanderers’ camp when the captain’s armband was given to Esau Kanyenda instead of Alfred Manyozo Junior.
Recently, Kanyenda and Joseph Kamwendo threatened to resign from the team over the captaincy wrangle, forcing the Executive Committee to hand it over to Manyozo.
But Wanderers Team Manager, Steve Madeira, yesterday insisted that the captaincy wrangle was sorted out.
“When Manyozo is not available, the arm band goes to either [Lucky] Malata or [Mike] Kaziputa. If both are not around, it is up to the technical panel to decide who leads others. “So, the panel decided to give it to Kanyenda but, when he was taken off and Manyozo camein, he took back his armband. Let me make it clear that Wanderers’ Captain is Manyozo,” he said.
Wanderers Head Coach, Yasin Osman, has since questioned the attitude of some of his charges during the Charity Shield.
“The young players that came in the second-half made a big difference and they committed themselves as they were fighting for the ball. We have to tell our players that nobody has a permanent position in the team; that they must change their attitude and fight for their positions. We have to make changes to the team,” Osman said in a post-match interview on Sunday.
The veteran mentor substituted Captain of the day Kanyenda, Kamwendo and Stanley Sanudi for Khumbo Ng’ambi, Felix Zulu and Dennis Chembezi, respectively, on Saturday.
In Sunday’s game against Kamuzu Barracks, Osman relegated to the bench Kamwendo, Kanyenda, Peter Wadabwa and Sanudi.
Manyozo has since apologised to all Nomads’ fans.
“We know that we have disappointed them and we also feel their pain. They came out to support us and we are grateful for that. They must continue supporting us like they have been doing. This is work in progress and we will get the team to greater heights,” he said.
Silver and Wanderers will also meet next week in the TNM Super League opening match at a venue yet to be announced.— Additional reporting by Arkangel Tembo, Mana
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