Opinion: Is Monsieur Renard Going Wild? So now monsieur Herve Renard screams blue murder every time anyone raises the whistle against him. When he made such a big deal about an innocuous article in the Proflight Magazine prior to Zambia meeting Lesotho and Sudan that questioned the Chipolopolo’s post 2012 Africa Cup win form, we thought maybe it was just the stress of high expectations and the Zambian gladly media let the Frenchman be as he refused to grant interviews. Now with the World Cup qualification that he promised shortly after failure to go past the first round of the 2013 Africa out of the way, Renard has been receding into fits of anger at everyone who reminds him of the 2013 spectacular failure. The slightest hint of George Lwandamina making note of the failure sent the Frenchman over the roof and this is what he told former Times of Zambia sports reporter Ignatius Mazeko: “This is part of the game. Some people are dreaming to be coach for the Chipolopolo. So they are able to manipulate some journalists, to use everything they could to try and reach their targets, it makes me laugh.” Laugh? It may have tickled Renard but missing out on World Cup qualification and crashing at the first round for a 10-month old champion is not funny at all for the 13 million Zambians that funded that excursion. Renard adds: “I have a good relationship with George Lwandamina. Some people are just trying their luck to bring some disturbance after Zambia’s elimination from the World Cup qualifiers. It is part of the game. I didn’t hear them criticize me or the team after our victory at the 2012 Afcon and 2013 COSAFA. I wish them all the best; they will never reach their target.” Now his daggers are out hunting for Mozambique based trainer Wedson Nyirenda who has rated 2013 a disaster in football terms and rightly so. What does the Frenchman do? He scrounged for Nyirenda’s number and let out the little of his relevance in football terms that remains of him in the Zambian context. What wrong did Wada Wada do? Is Wada not entitled to an opinion on the Zambian game? Is Wada not one of the most successful local coaches around to have even been christened coach of the year twice and won the league with two different teams? What is wrong with Renard? Are we all supposed to take the hint from honourable Chishimba Kambwili and applaud 2013 as a GREAT Sporting year on our sporting calendar? Now having ‘blasted’ Wada Renard is out hunting for the journalist who talked to Wada, surely! Then what? While he is still at it he may also take time to look for Thursday’s Zambia Daily Mail and draw himself to one Ronald Chinku who has shared his thoughts on the 2013 football calendar. Ten months of self imposed football exile and we should all rise in ululation, what a joke this Frenchman is turning us into! Does Renard know of a man called Luis Oliveira Gonçalves of Angola. The man took the Palancas Negras, our western neigbhours, to the Germany 2006 FIFA World Cup. He was an instant hero in that part of the world where Renard failed to last six months. Later, Luis Oliveira Gonçalves failed to inspire the Angolans post Germany 2006 and his fate is not a secret. Even with such an admirable record, he could not continue because he had previously succeeded. That’s the nature of the game. It demands consistent results at every turn, not a past tense coach. Undoubtedly, we are indeed grateful for the Africa Cup trophy for it remains the biggest prize we have ever won and that is the reason our expectations are higher. Unless of course it was a fluke as some people have never tired from reminding us. Rather than going on a witch hunt we should all accept 2013 for the football failure it is and maybe start afresh with either monsieur Renard or preferably a new era with a new coach after all key targets tied to the coaching bench’s contract were not met. Otherwise, monsieur Renard will leave us with no option but conclude he is going bonkers with the hangover from 2012. zambiareports/2013/09/21/opinion-is-monsieur-renard-going-wild/
Posted on: Sat, 21 Sep 2013 08:07:36 +0000
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