Football is about numbers and results however these results do not come easily. Season in season out someone is given the responsibility to take up the managerial Role.
Every Coach has his own philosophy and way of doing things from selecting the starting eleven (11) to who should be substituted. His role goes as far as being able to Read the game when his team is under pressure and hopefully making game changing substitutions and formation adjustments.
Just like every other league the Zambian premier league saw a number of coaches being shown the exit door because of poor performance while others it was an issue of mutual consent.
Our first stop will be at buildcon football club in ndola, despite having a rich CV, Italian coach Arena Gulgliemo was shown the exit door after losing all his opening three matches. The 44 year old Italian might have been a success in the other countries but when it came to the Zambia Super League his Credentials failed and coaching skills were questioned.
The kabwe outfit Kabwe Warriors were not spared in the coaching dilemma, Tennant Chilumba was given the mantle after replacing Elijah Chikwanda.
In the sweet town of mazabuka things were not going very well for Patrick Phiri, the former Chipolopolo boss had talked about winning the league but he ended up fighting Relegation. Nakambala leopards had to part ways with Coach Patrick Phiri and recently the club unviled Zeddy saileti a familiar face in the Zambian league. The former Nkana striker will take charge of the Sweet boys in 2019.
Surviving Relegation might be a difficult task for any club but Napsa stars made the impossible possible, with a poor start to the season under Linos Makwaza the teams performance went from bad to worse however during the second stanza of the season the Pensioners brought in Elijah Chikwanda who replaced Makwaza and before we could know it the team found it self in the Relegation zone struggling to stay afloat.
With only few games to go the team reached out to Mohammad Fathy to revive their hopes and help the team stay in the top flight. The Egyptian delivered and Napsa stars was out of the bottom half and finished 15th on the Table.
With the 2019 Super League season set to kick off in January, The hiring and firing of coaches is also expected to follow suit. Who will be the first to be shown the exit door? Have your say in the comment section.
If zesco had a coach like Mohammed Fathy the team would be in the champions league group stage by now. Fathy is a good coach better than the likes of lwandamina and Chambeshi combined. Hope the big teams can see his works..
Luandamina is not that bad. The problem faced by Zambia at the moment is shortage of a certain “breed of players”.
The league is conspicuously running short of players of note in all departments.
Zambia is definitely going through her bad times in soccer due to the same fact advanced above. Proof to this is how the different players called for national duty have been performing. A lot of them are failing to perform owing to the fact that they are not a good crop. Clubs have worsened the situation by failing to bring in young stars as opposed to exchanging the same old players.
I think the philosophy of football clubs in Zambia must be looked into. As much as teams want to win the league, each one of them must understand that only one club will lIft the trophy in each season. Lifting the trophy must not be predictable and easy. At the the moment Zplease championship is for a few clubs while many pose no threat to the potential winners.
All clubs must try to contribute to maintaining the high standards of the game at national level. This is an indirect responsibility. The drop in performance at national duty informs the clubs of the quality they have. Change is inevitable because the ultimate destination in football is international competition.
The current state of football in Zambia is focused more on entertaining the audience hence the standards are dropping or not changing.