BELEAGUERED Harare giants Caps United have "promoted" coach Lloyd Chitembwe to the position of technical director as they look to reshuffle the technical team and bring in a new head coach.
Rumours suggest that Makepekepe are angling for Ngezi Platinum Stars coach Takesure Chiragwi, who is a former CAPS United player and has won the league title with the Mhondoro-Ngezi-based side.
Club president Farai Jere announced Chitembwe's elevation to the post of technical director at a Press conference in Harare yesterday.
Jere revealed that they were currently in talks with an unnamed title-winning coach with Caps United links, who will be announced on Thursday. He said the new coach will be assisted by former Caps United midfielder and Zambian International Ian Bakala, who is already in the country.
"Following the results which were not coming, even though we are playing very good football," Jere said, "We then amicably decided with the current technical setup that we are parting ways, which paved the way for the new team which is coming in."
"The new technical team is starting this weekend. We will have another Press conference on Thursday, where we will be announcing the full technical team.
"The new technical team will have our son Ian Bakala as an assistant coach. He is one of the greatest Caps United sons, the greatest midfielder that we have never seen in a long time.
"So on Thursday, we will announce the head coach who will be coming to join the team and will be working with Bakala. We believe the new coach, together with Bakala, is going to deliver the desired results," Jere expressed confidently.
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"And also, coach Lloyd Chitembwe is going to be part of our setup as the technical director of the team, but he will not be sitting on the bench. Unfortunately, the rest of his technical team will have to go and try their luck elsewhere.”
He also hinted at the criteria they used to select the new coach.
"The criteria are very simple, we give priority to the sons of Caps United who have the qualifications and have also achieved things with us. They know the pressure, the culture and how to win things with the club. We look to see if they have upgraded themselves in that regard, if they have Caf A or B, that's also some of the criteria we are using to find our new coach.
"That's why we have Ian Bakala, our former player who won the title with us as a player and also in his coaching career, he has won the title with Power Dynamos in Zambia. So, even though the incoming coach is a Caps United son, he knows the pressure that comes with winning the championship.
"That's our focus because we need to be a title-winning club in the country. The incoming coach has once won the championship as a player and a coach," he said.
The reshuffle comes after a poor start to the season, with the Green Machine registering six defeats, two draws and two wins from the 10 games in the campaign.
Makepekepe are 15th on the log table with eight points, 14 behind log leaders MWOS.
Although it will be a difficult task to lure the contracted 2023 league-winning coach Chiragwi from Ngezi, another coach being linked to the job is Kwekwe United coach Saul Chaminuka.
The new technical team will begin their new era at home against Herentals on Saturday.
