REIGNING Castle Lager Premier Soccer League Coach of the
Year Norman Mapeza has quit FC Platinum five years after joining the champions.
Mapeza oversaw 151 league matches and an incredible 90 wins
during his hugely successful tenure. Lizwe Sweswe has been elevated to interim head coach with
immediate effect.
Mapeza leaves Pure Platinum Play ahead of tomorrow’s Caf
Champions League encounter against UD Songo of Mozambique at Barbourfields
Stadium.
In a statement, FC Platinum president George Mawere said
the two parties had a mutual separation.
“FC Platinum club wishes to announce the departure of head
coach Norman Mapeza from the team through a mutual separation agreement. Norman
has been with the team for the past five years and the club would like to thank
him for his professionalism, dedication and commitment to the achievement of
the club objectives. During his tenure, the club made history by winning
back-to-back league titles and reaching the group stages of the prestigious Caf
Champions League. The club presidium, fans, executive, management, entire
technical and playing staff wish him well in his future endeavours. In the
interim, Lizwe Sweswe will be the acting head coach,” reads Mawere’s statement.
However, sources said the temperamental coach addressed
players yesterday morning as they prepared to depart for Bulawayo and told them
that he was leaving because of “lack of support” from team management.
“He apparently feels someone within the executive wanted
him out of the system by failure to beef up the squad. He was not happy that
the club failed to bring in big name players during the second transfer window
despite losing a number of key and reliable players,” said a source.
Mapeza joined FC Platinum on August 11, 2014, replacing
Lloyd Mutasa who had quit, ironically on a Thursday of that month, the same day
that he too announced his departure.
During his stint with the 2017 and 2018 league champions,
Mapeza recorded 90 league wins, 43 draws and 18 losses.
However, he could not replicate this success on the
continental stage, despite guiding Pure Platinum Play to the group stages of
the last Caf Champions League campaign. As news of his departure filtered
through, the rumour mill went into overdrive about his next destination, with
three clubs featuring prominently, Manica Diamonds, Highlanders and South
Africa’s Stellenbosch.
Meanwhile, FC Platinum arrived in Bulawayo yesterday
morning ahead of their clash against UD Songo, with players that spoke to
Chronicle Sport expressing confidence of a good outing despite the shock
departure of their gaffer.
“We are here to play football and play we will on Saturday.
We remain fully focused and are confident of victory,” said one player. Chronicle
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