‘It affects more than your pocket’: Gabriel Nyoni in emotional defense for striking Bosso players
Former Highlanders captain Gabriel Nyoni has shed light on how the club’s deepening financial crisis has ripple effects beyond the bank balance, warning that club chiefs must act urgently as players are now facing the grim reality of poverty and are beginning to look down upon themselves.
As has become the norm this season, Bosso players boycotted training on Monday and on Tuesday gathered at the club offices in an attempt to pile pressure on the executive to settle outstanding salaries and allowances.
The industrial action comes at the worst possible time for the Bulawayo giants, who have lost benefactor Wicknell Chivayo who had been their hope for financial relief.
Amid the strike, Bosso face Ngezi Platinum Stars at Baobab Stadium midweek before hosting rivals Dynamos FC at Barbourfields Stadium on Sunday in a centenary-year clash expected to bring in much-needed gate revenue.
While the 100-year celebrations are memorable, the build-up to their big party leaves a lot to be desired. And former captain Gabriel Nyoni, who endured similar ordeals, told Fanzone in an interview that he is saddened by the situation, stating that the financial strain goes beyond the bank balance.
“Having been a player at Highlanders and having personally experienced situations where players were owed money, I know how demoralising this can be,” Nyoni told Fanzone.
“It affects your concentration, your family, your confidence and ultimately your performance on the pitch. A footballer may still put on the jersey and give his best, but mentally there is always something in the background.
“You start asking yourself, ‘When am I going to be paid? How am I going to take care of my responsibilities?’ That is a very difficult environment in which to perform consistently.
”Nyoni said the club should stop blaming players and coaches for recurring crises.“At the same time, I don’t think we should immediately blame the players or the coach. When the same problems keep coming back, you have to look at the structure of the institution,” he said.
GABRIEL NYONI CALLS FOR AN OVERHAUL AT BOSSO
Highlanders FC players pose together on the field before a match. Picture by Highlanders FC
The former Maritzburg United [now Durban City] attacker Nyoni called for a complete financial overhaul at the 100-year-old institution. “Football needs planning. The club needs to know before a season starts: How much money is coming in? How much is going towards salaries? What can we realistically afford?” he said.
“The club needs to become much more commercial. Membership should be strengthened. Corporate partnerships need to be aggressively pursued. Match-day revenue needs to be maximised. Merchandise can be developed properly.
“Resource mobilisation should be a year-round strategy, not something you activate when salaries are already overdue. If supporters understand the financial position of the club, they are more likely to participate.”
“Highlanders is 100 years old. That means we have to respect the institution, but we also have to be brave enough to admit that some of the old ways of doing things may no longer work.
“I do believe Bosso needs a serious financial and administrative overhaul, professional systems, proper budgeting, commercial expertise, accountability and long-term planning. The club should not survive from crisis to crisis.”
He added: “A club of Highlanders’ size and history should be building reserves, developing commercial assets and creating multiple income streams so that one bad season, one poor gate or one lost sponsor doesn’t bring the whole institution to its knees.
“The players deserve to be paid. The supporters deserve a competitive team. The administrators deserve the resources to run the club properly. And most importantly, Highlanders deserves a model that can still work for the next 100 years, not just one that gets us through the next three months.”
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