Simba Bhora club owner Simba Ndoro has encouraged club supporters to give their coach Tonderayi Ndiraya plenty of time to work on his squad and to assess him until when the team begins playing at their home field Wadzanai.
The team expects to finish upgrades at its home stadium by the end of this month. According to Ndoro, the stadium is around 80 percent complete.
The ambitious businessman believes that once the club begins playing at their fortress, they will capitalize on their home advantage.
Only then will they contemplate taking action against the coach if results continue to elude them.
Last Friday, Simba Bhora fans turned on Ndiraya after losing 0-1 to Cranborne Bullets. They confiscated his car keys for the luxurious company vehicle he is using.
The coach was only given back his keys the following day.
But Ndoro came out with guns blazing yesterday. He said despite the disappointing results by the Premiership newsboys, there is no need to wield the axe yet.
“Considering the investment we had on the players we are expecting the team to perform better. We know in football you cannot win all the matches, you lose some.
“But all the teams that were yet to win are collecting points against us. We have experienced players who have played in the national team the likes of Blessing Moyo, Jaure (Partson), and Talent (Chawapiwa). We have about seven guys with national team experience. So we were thinking that with such an arsenal we would perform better. But if you look at the last three games we only picked a point,” said Ndoro.
“National Sports Stadium is not our home ground so there are 50-50 chances for either team.
“It will be too harsh to fire him.
“We are expecting our stadium to be ready by month end and only then we can judge our coach accordingly. I am appealing to our supporters to support the coach,” said Ndoro.
Simba Bhora have eight points having managed two victories against Yadah and Hwange. They drew with Sheasham and Dynamos. They lost their opening two matches to FC Platinum and Chicken Inn respectively.
But it is the consecutive losses against Cranborne Bullets and GreenFuel at home that were the final straw for the supporters.
The club supporters feel that the team which is among the best-resourced teams in the Premiership is short-changing them.
The club went on a buying spree during the pre-season acquiring a number of experienced players that have seen duty with different clubs in the local league and in South Africa.
“We are seven points behind the leaders and not far off the mark. We are performing poorly against small teams which is our cause for concern. We had decent performances against the big teams even in matches that we lost but we are not repeating those performances against teams that are struggling.
“Maybe we are underrating small teams. I don’t know but the players have been making silly mistakes and blunders in our previous games. They must learn to have a fighting spirit to equalise whenever we concede early,” said Ndoro. The businessman has made a huge investment in the team.
“I pay my players well. They receive their salaries and bonuses on time. We are getting a new 57-seater bus from China soon. We are trying so the players should return the favour by winning.
“So I am really concerned and don’t understand what their problem is. They are reducing the Simba Bhora brand. We want to attract sponsors but we cannot do it with poor performances,” said Ndoro.
On Sunday Simba Bhora will travel to Barbourfields for a match against early pacesetters Highlanders.
