Agent reveals clauses to protect new Chippa coach
New Chippa United coach Norman Mapeza’s agent Gibson Mahachi has revealed that there are clauses in his client’s contract to protect him from the trigger happy Chippa chairman Sivive Mpengesi.
Norman Mapeza (R) arrives for the African Nations Cup Qualifying match between Zimbabwe and Liberia played at the National Sports Stadium in Harare. EPA/AARON UFUMELI
Mapeza was announced as Chippa’s new coach on Tuesday just hours before their game against Bidvest Wits, which they lost 1-0.
The former Zimbabwe defender replaces Clinton Larsen who was fired after just five games into the 2019/20 Absa Premiership season. Larsen was temporarily replaced by Duran Francis on caretaker basis, before he was sacked too after just two games.
“It’s one of the major things that we discussed and there were some clauses in the contract that we were not comfortable with because we felt that they would leave the coach exposed,’’ Mahachi told the Herald in Zimbabwe.
“We discussed those issues, including a clause where they had said they wanted to review the performance of the coach after three games, and we said that wasn’t feasible since the coach is coming into a side that already has players which he didn’t recruit and will need more time to understand the system and make decisions.”
“They agreed to waive that and we also got some guarantees that protect the coach and, at the end of the day, we struck some agreement. The bottom line is that this is a result-oriented job and whichever way we look at it, whatever we say or want, the results have to be positive and we know that.
“Chippa United were intent that they wanted their man, they believe he suits perfectly into the kind of coach they were looking for, and it’s a chance for Norman to also go there and prove himself that he can make a difference,” concluded Mahachi.
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