Can Tenants departure, make Wanderers the land-lords of the Super League once again?
The Mighty have fallen short of glory in as many decades as close to three, they last won a trophy in 1996. Despite their up and down super league adventures, they remain the most decorated team with 49 trophies, and a second position in terms of league titles with 9 titles in their cabinet, with only Nkana FC above them who have 13 League titles.
It is interesting to note that Maite, have produced some of the most decorated players in the history of Zambia, players like 1988 African Footballer of the Year Kalusha Bwalya.
Last season the team amassed an 8th place finish, getting 13 wins and 6 losses in the process. All these under the guise of Coach Tenant Chilumba, who went on to spend eight months, despite attaining a somewhat decent outing, a mutual separation was agreed between him and management.
They have since ushered in former Muza FC Coach Lameck Banda, the man who steered the Mazabuka based side to a League Cup Final in the 2023 season and further led them to the Continental football.
“If you look at the track record of Banda and his assistant Bupe Chewe, they have developed into seasonal managers, they have proved superior especially with Muza, Banda delivered continental football for Muza, and a League Cup Final, and Wanderers are hoping he will replicate such, if he can go with the same philosophy, he can deliver, Maite has been starved of accolades for a long time,” said Football Analyst Augustine Mwanza.
He however called on the management of the club, to allow the coach custody of player decisions, highlighting that if the club continues in a similar trajectory, there might falter.
“If they want to see change, the management has to trust him, they should allow him to form a team that has his identity and then we are likely to witness some change.”
Mwanza sharply criticized the management of the club, stating that they have lacked a strategic long-term plan to steer the team forward.
This has culminated in the club not attracting valuable players, and hence the perpetual underperformance.
“This has also take a lot of hard work behind the scenes, short term and long term goals which will take the team back to the top where they used to be, if your back bone is bad, you cannot succeed, they need a strong goal keeper, a top centre back, they have the likes of Bwembya Kakungu who looks like a great player and we have seen him represent Zambia at Continental level, they really need to fix those spaces.
There is hype around the appointment of Banda, but only next season will tell, if the resurgence is real or still a dream.
