BY MUNYARADZI MADZOKERE
When the club offered him the job on Tuesday, newly-appointed Dynamos coach Tonderai Ndiraya (pictured) was deep in the thickets of Gokwe, on a grassroots football trip.
Despite the initial inclination to turn down the offer, Ndiraya quickly left the rural academy he was helping to take over one of the biggest coaching jobs in local football.
After all, he is a son of the institution and he had to overlook the fact that DeMbare snubbed him for the same job three years ago after he had proved his capabilities as caretaker coach.
In the 13 matches he was in charge between August and December 2015, Ndiraya won eight times, drew four times and lost once, guiding the club to second place at the end of the season.
But he was deemed unfit to get the full-time job.
Ndiraya, who went on to have a successful 30-month stint at Ngezi, marks his return to Dynamos with a tricky tie against newcomers TelOne FC at Barbourfields this afternoon.
The last time he inherited a strong team that had gone on just three consecutive league draws, this time around it’s an inexperienced team that has lost three on the trot.
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Neutrals believe it was an ill-advised move by Ndiraya and he will struggle, but the former star player felt that he would come back one day.
“I have always had a feeling that I would bounce back and continue to build my CV,” Ndiraya told StandardSport.
“I am sure that is why I accepted the Ngezi job to improve myself and I am sure I got good experience.
“It’s quite difficult to coach Dynamos because I think it is the hottest seat in the country. But I hope I amassed enough experience at Ngezi to coach Dynamos.”
Ndiraya was unveiled on Wednesday morning and proceeded to have his first training session that same day. But what he saw has made him a bit more circumspect in his ambitions.
“Of course, the first thing I saw was the sad faces, but I can also say the spirit is good. After a long chat with the boys on Thursday, I saw some positives. It’s those positives we are focusing on, I hope those positives will give us a result on Sunday [today],” he said.
“We tried to stress the importance of the game as well as recovering from the mini crisis and put things back in order. We have a number of players that are still developing like Nigel Katawa and Tawanda Chisi just to name a few and it is that potential that is giving us hope.
“But sometimes potential will remain potential, so I hope they step up quickly to get to a standard acceptable at Dynamos. The psychological fitness of the players is a big issue and we are working in that area.”
Dynamos are 13th on the log, two places above the relegation zone with three points in four matches.
At the same time league debutants TelOne lie 11th, two points above their visitors today.
“It’s a difficult game. TelOne are a very good team. It’s a big test for us, I hope the boys will raise the standard and give the system as a whole something to smile about. It will not be good to lose four matches in a row and I hope we will be able to stop the rot and move forward,” said the man who doubles as the Zimbabwe Under-23 coach
“The immediate task is to recover from the mini crisis and try to instil some sense of responsibility in the players so that they understand the enormity of playing for Dynamos. Long-term objective is to make sure the team finishes in a respectable position and I think this can be achieved,” he said.
It would be interesting to see the team that Ndiraya will trust to do battle in his first game in charge. Ndiraya is also understood to be already eyeing the mid-season transfer window to add to the arsenal at his disposal.
