Short Circuited but confident

MUKWIMA CHILALA writes SOME mistakes were made in the way the 2019/20 MTN FAZ League was ended but the work to rebuild and recover the championship title has started, Zesco United Chief Executive Officer Richard Mulenga has said. “It is unfortunate, especially if you consider how we started this League, we won our first 10 matches … but the process of re-building starts on today.” And Mulenga has bemoaned the manner in which the league resumed and ended following the COVID-19 outbreak. In an interview, following the crowning of Nkana as 2019/20 league champions, the Zesco United CEO said his administration had identified problems to be worked on and were ready for the next season that is expected to commence in October. The league came to an abrupt halt at Week 27, which he has cited as being too reactive, proposing that Premier League clubs should take up the responsibility of managing the Super League operations. “21 points are too many, they are a lot. Anything can happen in seven games. To pick a winner when the difference is too little?” he said. “I think maybe it’s time the CEO’s of the Zambian Premier League clubs became proactive and started running this league as should be the case. It should have been the Premier League to determine how we were going to start and finish this league.” Mulenga said that amongst the future plans was to strategise around the developmental teams sponsored by Zesco, to identify young talent that could feed into the main team. “Zesco is a team that thinks in the long term and that is why you see that we don’t change coaches here and there. We want stability. So even the re-building process, we would want to win the league next year, but we have also have to be mindful that rebuilding takes time.” In response to Team Yaziko’s inability to claim a continental slot, the club CEO stated that it was had been tight contest that had seen too many mistakes in deciding a winner.  “We recognise Nkana as the winners, but we think it was another big mistake that was made to award all the teams that were supposed to play Nakambala Leopards 3 points,” he said.  Zesco missed out on a continental slot for the first time in more than ten years after finishing fifth on the log with 47 points. The Sun