ZVISHAVANE - Former AmaZulu and Monomotapa defender Vorster Chitemu has joined Shabanie Mine as second assistant to head coach John Phiri.
Phiri, who took over from Luke Masomere at the beginning of the month, said he decided to bring in Chitemu whom he worked with at Central Region Division One League side Town United.
He said the two a have a mutual understanding which he believes will be instrumental for Shabanie.
“The executive asked me to bring my own assistant coach as part of our negotiations and I decided to bring in Vorster because I believe he will add value to our technical department which also has Arnold Jani as the first assistant,” Phiri told the Daily News.
“I worked well with him before and I know his credentials. I have also worked with Jani before and we understand each other well, in fact we are like brothers and with a technical team like this I believe we are destined for greater things.
“We have already started our preparations for the new season with trials for new players. Actually we started trials on Friday and they are going on well. We are also expecting the old players to start training tomorrow (Tuesday).”
Shabanie Mine secretary general, Pithias Shoko, also confirmed that Chitemu has joined Shabanie as the second assistant coach replacing Elvis Muuya who was left in the cold after the departure of Masomere.
“Yes, Chitemu has joined us as an assistant coach. He is the coach’s choice because as an executive we allowed him to bring his own assistant to work with Arnold Jani who has always been there.”
The new technical department has a mammoth task of rebuilding the team after a number of key players left after the expiry of their contracts. Top striker Pervington Zimunya left for CAPS United while their best player in the second of last season, Frank Bushiri, followed Masomere to Buffaloes.
Midfielder Erea Phiri and left-back Peter Muzondo are also said to be on their way to Buffaloes while goalkeeper Roy Mazingi has already joined Chapungu. Defender William Ngonya is finalising his move to ZPC Kariba while midfielder Valentine Ndaba has joined Highlanders.