Bosso coach Akbay finally arrives

     

Dutchman Erol Akbay has finally arrived in the country to assume the position of head coach at Highlanders football club.

The Bosso clubhouse was Akbay’s first port of call upon his arrival in Bulawayo for a session with the local media before he proceeded to Barbourfields Stadium where the Highlanders senior team was training.

Highlanders chief executive officer Ndumiso Gumede took time to clarify the circumstances behind Akbay’s delay in coming into the country to take up one of the toughest jobs on the local football scene.

He said: “It’s only a pleasure to have Mr Erol Akbay with us. It has taken a long time for him to come but I think want to put you at ease because there were now insinuations of incompetence, on of his late appointment. He might be able to talk for himself, but as early as late October (2015) we had decided it would be him. I hope you are not offended Erol - but he was asking for an arm and a leg for his salary and we told him we are a poor club. I know it is difficult for people to understand how Highlanders is a poor club but we started off by negotiating salaries until we got to a level when we said now we can manage. That took time and once we got over the hurdle of salaries we then began the paperwork. He brought us all the papers but they were all in Dutch. We had asked him to get those papers certified but some were not and we had to get the papers to the Dutch embassy in Harare for them to do the translation for us.

They were magnanimous enough to accept the papers, read through them and I think convince themselves that there was nothing that could damage the image of the Dutch embassy, and then nicely said no, we do not do translations, there are your papers and go try Roosevelt Girls High School where there is a Dutch national and that is the person who did the translation, but the papers still needed certification and we ended up going a little higher after the embassy also declined to do that. Those are the things that took long.”

Akbay, who signed a two – year contract with Highlanders, promised to bring an exciting brand of football to Tshilamoya.

“I am very happy to be here because I am very excited to start work. Highlanders is a big club of course and has to compete for the championship and what I want to give to Highlanders is very nice, fast football and we will see what will happen this year,” Akbay said.

Amini Soma – Phiri is the assistant coach at Highlanders and has been taking the team through their paces alongside technical advisor Cosmas Zulu in the Dutchman’s absence.

Veteran coach Zulu also doubles up as the goalkeepers’ trainer.

Akbay though, revealed that he had not availed the pre – season training programme to Phiri and Zulu and said the proper programme will only get underway now that he is here.

He, however, said he would be guided by Phiri and Zulu on identifying the key players to build his team around.

The Dutch coach’s contract is performance based and Gumede said the club will be content with a top four finish in his first year as he will be still finding his feet.

“In the first year we are expecting that in the first 10 games he should be staying with the leading pack and get a minimum of sixty percent of achievement. It may sound steep, but we are not a small club and he has already accepted that we are a big club. If by the end of the year he finishes in the top four, we will deem that he has done reasonably well. As administration of course we have different expectations from the man in the street who expects hundred. The man in the street thinks all those 15 other clubs are just making up the numbers and the correct club that should take the championship is his. The tricky year is his second as there will be no excuses because he would have acclimatised to the environment in Zimbabwe and he would have had two chances to bring in his own players - during mid season in 2016 and at the beginning of 2017. The big cake certainly must come in the second year but did I say we don’t want to win the league in 2016? No! If he can win it in 2016 then I am sure I can ask one of my sisters to come back from marriage and we can give him a second wife,” Gumede said.