I FEEL there is a serious human resource management crisis at the national team which seriously needs to be addressed sooner than later.
The latest episode involving Jacob Mulenga should have been handled well unlike was the case where a text message sent in confidence was revealed to the journalists, a situation, if left, unchecked, would see many players lose confidence in those managing the team.
For those who missed it, Jacob declined a national team call-up simply because he does not want to be made to sit on the bench going by the way he has been treated in past matches.
Those who have followed Jacob, will agree with me that he is a true professional who has always come out in the open to utter his frustration if not happy. In 2013 during Africa Cup of Nations finals in South Africa, Jacob wondered why he was called just to warm the bench despite having been a top scorer in the Dutch league at FC Utrecht.
Jacob is one among the other foreign-based players who have been summoned but have to watch proceedings from the bench when the likes of Paston Daka and Patrick Ngoma were been rushed into the team so that someone can sell them at the expense of winning matches.
Thus the latest snub comes as no surprise and this reason the technical bench is giving of not being in the right frame of mind is just a lie but worse off I feel Jacob was betrayed as his text message which he wanted not be for everybody to see was made public.
“I would like to notify you not to consider me for the upcoming national team as I am not in the right frame of mind. I am notifying you so that you do not make it a public issue. I have a lot of respect for Mr George Lwandamina and that’s why I have said it before anything is announced officially,” read part of the text.
But sadly someone failed to take into account this part of the message, “I am notifying you so that you do not make it a public issue.”
By making the text public erodes the confidence a player can have in a team manager because no player would be comfortable to share problems if nothing can be kept private.
There is need for those managing the national team to understand how to manage human capital better by applying some psychology.
In my view, I feel there is mismanagement of players and this has contributed to falling soccer standards in the country. The idea/proposal by Simataa Simataa is one worth looking at where a group of ex-coaches be mobilised to help advise the technical bench on how to deal with player call-ups.
One may argue against this statement because like now, all the junior teams had qualified to their respective tournaments but got booted out in the preliminary rounds. Why was this so?
This was as a result of lack of strategic management where planning comes in handy and not a day before a crucial encounter.
In the same vein, I wonder if team manager or coaches counsel players directly unlike issuing statements in the media which I doubt if the players even get to read.
Therefore, going forward is to ensure that FAZ employs qualified managers to handle the various national teams because soccer is now big business unlike engaging former ball boys and soccer fans to handle the affairs of the much loved game.
Similarly at club level, there is need to find and engage qualified team managers who would not just be in charge of the playing and training kit but manage the team especially the human capital.
Anyway, enough said, till next week, remember we can interact on eliaschipepo@gmail.com or elias.chipepo@times.co.zm