Silver bow to disgruntled fans

Silver Strikers have bowed down to pressure from disgruntled fans and suspended the newly constituted national supporters committee with immediate effect.

On Wednesday, the club announced the suspension of the reconstituted national supporters committee from its operations pending a review of the electoral process.

In an interview, the club’s company secretary Peter Masiye said the suspension is meant to accommodate concerns of disgruntled supporters.

He said: “We received a letter from some sections of the Club’s supporters complaining about how the national supporters committee was formed.

“As a club, we sat down to discuss these concerns after which a decision was made to suspend the operations and reconstitution of the national committee.”

Masiye said as a club with a diverse fan base, it is important to accommodate the concerns of all of its supporters.

He, however, played down the concerns.

Said Masiye: “We are currently working with zone leaders and that means the supporters are still part of the decisions we make.

“We have only suspended the national supporters committee. We will make an announcement regarding the national supporters committee very soon. As such, it won’t affect the team’s performance.”

Former Silver Strikers national supporters committee chairperson Kingsley Malaya said he was concerned with the development as it might affect the players with just a few days to go before the league kicks.

“I don’t want to comment about this as it might seem like I am interfering. But my concern as an ordinary fan is that it might affect the team,” he said.

National coordinator for the suspended committee, Chisomo Mwamadi, said they are waiting for communication from the board on the way forward.

“We respect the decision made by the board. On the way forward, we are waiting for direction from the board,” he said.

Sports analyst Charles Nyirenda, who is former Football Association of Malawi general secretary, hailed the board’s decision.

He said: “Elections are a process. We witnessed elections at district and zonal levels which were well supervised and everyone was satisfied and without complaints. There was, however, a cloud of secrecy on how the national elections, if any, were conducted.

“There is supposed to be a deliberate effort to legitimise the national committee. For purpose of legitimacy this is a good call by the board to suspend the committee and listen to the concerns raised. The discontent, if unchecked, could have ruined the reputation of the club. Trouble was looming,” he said.