FCB Nyasa Bullets are reportedly courting Silver Strikers coach Peter Mponda to consider taking over from Kallisto Pasuwa, who is strongly linked with the Flames’ permanent job.
A source confided in The Nation that the People’s Team sent a delegation to meet Mponda in Lilongwe a fortnight ago where an offer was made.
Said the source: “Bullets made an offer of close to K8 million as monthly salary and other benefits, but he [Mponda] did not commit and asked for more time to ponder and consult on the matter.
“Pasuwa’s contract is due for expiry at the end of the season and is earmarked for the Flames job upon FAM [Football Association of Malawi] executive committee’s endorsement.”
But in an interview on Sunday, Mponda could neither deny nor confirm the issue, saying: “I cannot comment on the issue now. I am currently contracted to Silver Strikers. That’s all I can say.”
Quizzed if he indeed met a delegation from his former team, the Flames interim assistant coach said: “Ask them [Bullets].”
Recently, Mponda ruled himself out of a permanent role with the Flames, saying he has unfinished business at Silver.
On his part, Bullets acting chief executive officer Albert Chigoga said: “There is no decision taken by the club about the technical department.”
Mponda is on the verge of ending the Bankers’ 11-year league title drought as they lead the 16-team log table with 58 points from 26 matches, five points ahead of second-placed Mighty Mukuru Wanderers.
Under Mponda’s tutelage, the Bankers stand proudly as the only unbeaten team in the flagship league, but they lost to Bullets 1-0 in the final of the Airtel Top 8 and were booted out of the FDH Bank and Castel Challenge cups on post-match penalties by second-tier league sides Blue Eagles and Panthers FC, respectively.
Mponda was hired on a one-year deal by the Reserve Bank of Malawi-sponsored side in February this year.
Pasuwa led Bullets to five successive league titles, three of them with Mponda as his assistant before the latter left for South Africa to take up a coaching job with second-tier league side Black Leopards.
Pasuwa’s Zimbabwean manager Gibson Mahachi in an interview yesterday said he has not discussed the matter with his client, but confirmed that his contract is due for expiry.
