My fate is in DeMbare’s hands, says Ndiraya

DYNAMOS coach Tonderai Ndiraya says it is up to the club’s management to decide whether he should continue in his role next season as his contract with the local Premiership football giants is set to expire at the end of the year.

Ndiraya, who replaced Lloyd Chigowe in 2019, is set to come under the spotlight again despite finishing a credible third place in the just-ended Castle Lager Premiership football marathon.

DeMbare somehow wilted under pressure during the marathon to finish a distant 17 points behind champions FC Platinum who raked up 75 points on the road for their fourth consecutive Castle Lager Premier Soccer League title.

Ndiraya still felt his team did well this season considering they transformed from a side that fought relegation in 2018 and then finishing ninth when the league was last played in 2019 to championship contenders.

He also reasoned their 58 points this season were also an upgrade to the tally of 42 and 44 points they had in 2018 and 2019.

But the Dynamos management are yet to discuss the coach’s fate.

“Unfortunately, I can’t employ myself,” he said.

“What I can only say is my contract is ending on December 31. So it’s up to those who employ me to extend the contract or not.

“What I can only do as an employee is to hope and my hope is that it can be renewed considering what the team did this season,” said Ndiraya.

But the DeMbare faithful had hoped with better resources, following the coming on board of Sakunda Holdings as the club’s principal sponsors, the club would be able to turn the tables on FC Platinum’s dominance.

Ndiraya faced uncertainties throughout the season as supporters had turned against him, contending that the team was playing “boring football”.

At some point he also had a brush with the DeMbare management, resulting in a one-week suspension. The Glamour Boys are hungry for success.

They last won a major silverware back in 2014 following a four-year league dominance under Callisto Pasuwa.

Ndiraya at some point was part of the success story as Pasuwa’s assistant. Dynamos had to call him back in 2019 after the club had been deserted by players and went on to make a disastrous start under Chigowe.

But Ndiraya has benefited from the huge sponsorship packages by Sakunda Holdings and their predecessors Gold Leaf Tobacco in the last three years and has overhauled the squad, bringing in almost an entire new squad. While most of the newly-recruited Dynamos strikers were generally big flops, Ghanaian Emanuel Paga stood head and shoulders above the rest and was the team’s top goal scorer with 10 goals.

The other West African imports — Alex Orotomal, Martin Orfori and Cameroonian Albert Eonde — turned out to be huge embarrassments. They even had less goals combined compared to central defender Frank Makarati.

Makarati was consistent in the heart of the DeMbare backline. Apart from his defensive duties that saw DeMbare securing 19 clean sheets, Makarati had five goals to his name.

In fact, the former Ngezi Platinum Stars man played the most games for the Harare giants after featuring in 31 of the 34 league games.

Ndiraya admitted their strike-force, which yielded only 33 goals from 34 league games, was their Achilles Heel. Their defence was only second to FC Platinum in the league after conceding 17 goals, compared to 14 for the platinum miners.

“I am happy with what the team has done this season. I am happy for Emmanuel Paga for getting into double figures in terms of goal-scoring.

“It’s his first season with us, he is a foreigner but he adjusted quickly and scored 10 goals. Of course, we would have wanted more but we have not been clinical in front of goal this season and that cost us some matches,” said Ndiraya.

“But I am happy with the way the team performed defensively this season. Of, course we did not want to lose but I thought we never lost by more than one goal, which is something we can take home and try and build on.”

Dynamos lost six games by identical 1-0 scorelines the whole season. They were trailing Highlanders by the same margin when their match was abandoned at Barbourfields and later awarded to their opponents on a 3-0 scoreline.

Ndiraya believes he has taken Dynamos a notch higher, which could see the Harare giants better positioned to compete for honours next season.

“If the team is going to be kept together, and then, of course, add some few faces, then it’s really going to be the team to beat next season.

“We have all seen the areas that need reinforcement and if that is done, I am pretty sure and confident that we can be a very competitive side.

“But overall, in what I can term a first season, for the team to perform the way it did this year (it was okay). Of course, the expectations were high but I have always said that football is a process.

“No matter what you put in, it’s a process,” he said.

“Hopefully, that process can be preserved, keep building, reinforce the areas that I spoke about and the team can be strong and challenge the stronger sides in the league next season,” said Ndiraya.

He also added his voice on the team’s quest to return to their traditional Rufaro home ground, as one of the ways to woo back fans to the stadium.

As has been the case this season, the Glamour Boys recorded poor attendances in the Harare Derby which brought the curtain down on the season on Sunday.

“The team belongs to Rufaro and we are confident that if we go back there we can have larger crowds than we were getting here.

“Even during our playing days, it was really difficult to get huge crowds here at the National Sports Stadium.

“Rufaro is our home. Just like Highlanders are playing at their home (Barbourfields), it is our appeal that we go back home.”