‘Sacked’ Caps United coach Lloyd Chitembwe headhunted Bakala to take his job
By Auther Chimbgwa
Former Caps United head coach Lloyd Chitembwe took the trouble to headhunt his own replacement as it became apparent weeks ago that his job was on the line due to poor results, it has emerged.
The astounding revelations came out in a leaked audio in which the club legend bared his soul concerning his troubles at the Zimbabwe premiership giants while vowing his respect for both the club and its owner and club president Farai Jere.
A poor start to the 2025 league season by Caps United triggered fan unrest and put pressure on Chitembwe to resign and for the club leadership to find solutions to reverse the slide.
The club obliged by relieving Chitembwe of his duties and appointing club legend Ian Bakala whose second assignment is the much-storied Harare derby against Dynamos this Sunday.
But it turned out that as pressure mounted on the club to find a new coach, Chitembwe was leading the process.
In the leaked audio in which Chitembwe confided his troubles in a man he addressed as Muuya, the football legend said he personally rang Highlanders coach Kelvin Kaindu, Takesure Chiragwi (Ngezi Platinum) and even organised a physical meeting with FC Platinum coach Norman Mapeza to persuade one of them to come and replace him at the Green Machine.
“Last week, I called Norman (Mapeza) when club owner Farai Jere asked me to talk to him. I reached out also to Kelvin Kaindu and Takesure Chiragwi. I actually took Norman when he was in camp at a local hotel in Harare, and together with Farai Jere, drove away with him suggesting that he was the right man to coach Caps. I was going out to look for the best coach for the team. But all the coaches that I reached out to turned down the offer and I, with the concurrence of the president, eventually settled for (Ian) Bakala,” said Chitembwe.
After the coaches declined the offer, Chitembwe said he turned to Zambian gaffer Ian Bakala who had been attached to a club in Morocco to come fly to Harare and take charge.
Chitembwe said he had great respect for Jere and emphasised a lot on the mutual respect he enjoyed with the Zanu PF legislator.
Now Caps United team manager, Chitembwe said he was owed thousands of dollars in terms of wages and winning bonuses but said he was not going to go the way pursued by fellow sacked coaches such as Benjamin Mwaruwari and Bongani Mafu who reported their clubs to FIFA, which subsequently resulted in them getting substantial amounts of money.
Mwaruwari was awarded US$600,,000 while Mafu was awarded US$200 000 following their appeal..
