Wanderers players, coaches summoned

• Supporters question commitment

Be Forward Wanderers main supporters committee on Monday and Tuesday summoned the technical  panel and players respectively over the team’s recent poor showing which has seen them lose two consecutive TNM Super League matches.

The supporters committee chairperson Dinesi Chitsulo confirmed having met the technical panel and players separately to get to the bottom of the team’s slump in form.

“We had a meeting with the technical panel on Monday. We called for this meeting to give them our views about some technical and tactical aspects which we felt are lacking.

“For example, we noted that while we have depth in quality, the technical panel keeps on fielding the same players and we also noted it takes them time to effect substitutions,” said Chitsulo.

The youthful Nomads supporters head said the technical panel, which was represented by coach Elia Kananji and team managers Stevie Madeira and Chiyembekezo Zidana, understood their concerns and assured them that they would be looked into.

Commenting on the meeting they had with the players, Chitsulo said it was meant to question their commitment.

“On the part of the players, we feel their commitment is questionable and our message to them was that they need to jack up because it is the fans who feel the pain out there.

“Of course, there might be some internal problems, but look at [Big] Bullets, they struggle financially, but their players still give out their all. So, that should not be an excuse,” said Chitsulo.

Asked whether the supporters have powers to summon coaches and players over performance, Chitsulo said: “We are a very important arm of the team because we are the voice of the supporters and where we feel that things are not going well, we raise our concerns.”

Madeira confirmed the meetings, but referred The Nation to general secretary Mike Butao.

And when asked whether it is the jurisdiction of the supporters committee to question players and coaches’ performance, Butao said: “What I know is that we hold technical meetings every Monday and the supporters wanted to meet the executive and I told them to come and meet us after the technical meeting. So, they joined us in that meeting while waiting for our meeting.”