Love thy neba
Be Forward Wanderers have offered their age-old rivals Nyasa Big Bullets to use their 71-seater Scania coach as they host Kenyan side Gor Mahia in a CAF Champions League preliminary round return leg tie tomorrow.
Bullets, who lost the first leg 1-0 in Nairobi, host Gor Mahia at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre.
Nomads general secretary Mike Butao yesterday said they have offered their Neba (rivals) the bus because they appreciate the costs involved in hosting a foreign team.
“It is up to Bullets on how they will use the bus. The decision was made together with our board of trustees chairperson [Rashid] ‘Rashy’ Gaffar who deserves most of the credit for this.
“But we would rather stay in the background. Bullets should be in a better position to speak about this offer. As Wanderers, we can only reiterate that we wish Bullets and Silver Strikers all the best in the return matches. They got good results away and it is more than possible to turn the tables here,” he said.
On his part, Bullets chief executive officer (CEO) Fleetwood Haiya said they did not expect such a gesture from the Nomads.
“It is costly to hire a bus and it is in the range of K100 000. So, they have demonstrated the good relationship that exists between us.
“We can fight on the pitch, but off it we are neighbours,” he said.
The People’s Team has since allocated the bus to Gor Mahia who arrived in the country yesterday through Chileka International Airport in Blantyre.
Meanwhile, the People’s Team board of directors has dangled $10 000 (about K7.4 million) to be shared by the players as extra bonus should they turn the tables tomorrow.
He said the move is aimed at motivating the players to give out something extra tomorrow.
“The package is more than what they will get should we win the [TNM Super] League title. Our target is to qualify for the group stages of the competition,” said Haiya.
However, Haiya said the team’s management is yet to agree on the criteria to be used to share the money.
“I think let us cross the bridge first before we can look into that.”
Bullets captain John Lanjesi said the offer will act as an extra incentive.
“Investing in the participation of the tournament is already a big motivation on its own, but we are thankful to the board and on behalf of my colleagues, I want to assure them that we will fight tooth and nail,” he said.
