Majawa rejects pay cut, quits Rollers
Kabelo Boranabi | Thursday June 29, 2017 15:30
He was lured to Rollers by former coach, Rahman Gumbo from Malawi’s MTL Wanderers in 2008 and has been with the club since.
Tico leaves the club on a free transfer as his one contract elapsed at the end of the season. Speaking to Mmegi Sport yesterday, Rollers’ president Jagdish Shah said the club could not meet the 37-year-old anchorman’s wage demands with the player unwilling to take a pay cut. “Yeah, we have been in talks with him since last week. We asked him if we could carry on with the agreement we had or take a pay cut. We could not offer him more than what we paid him. Look, he is ageing. We cannot afford to pay him what we paid three or four years ago. I understand that it is difficult for any one to take a pay cut,” he said.
Jagdish further confirmed that despite Majawa being one of the longest serving members of the Rollers squad, he declined a non-playing role in the team as he told the club that he will want to continue playing. Majawa became one of the league’s decorated players after he won the league five times, the Mascom Top 8 and two Kabelano Charity Cup medals during his nine-year tenure at Rollers. He is rumoured to be on the radar of newly- promoted Sharps Shooting Stars.
The club has also released top goal scorer, Terence Mandaza, after his 18 months contract ended. Mandaza scored 17 goals for Rollers in the past league campaign. Jagdish said the striker will be working on a development programme, but could not state if it is with the club. “Mandaza is also leaving. He will be working with the youngsters from now on. The league is becoming competitive now.
We have to look for a fresher pair of legs hence why we have to invest more on young players,” he said. The two’s departures mean Popa have freed two spaces for foreign players. The Blues are said to have acquired the services of Tanzanian striker, Rashid Mandawa but Jagdish could not confirm the deal. “We have some people coming in for trials. They will be with us for a few weeks. We will assess them and make a final decision.”
Rollers returned from the off-season on Monday and are yet to appoint a new coach with Jagdish revealing that visa delays are holding back the recruitment process.
“We have applied for visas for a few coaches we invited for interviews. We wanted them to come here and have a feel of local football and how the club is run. The visas are taking longer than expected. It has been 21 days already,” Jagdish said. Meanwhile, Popa have been drawn against South African giants, Kaizer Chiefs in the semi-final of the Maize Cup scheduled for July 15 in Klerksdorp, South Africa. The 14th time local league champions participated in the first edition of the tournament in 2015 where they lost to Platinum Stars after a penalty shootout.