AN illustration of how beleaguered city soccer giant, Simba SC, is organized was visible towards the end of the week when a discussion was heating up on radio and online television stations’ talk shows about the future of flambuouyant forward Kibu Denis.

As everyone heard from this or that grapevine, it seemed to be important that the issue is cleared by the relevant authorities, who perhaps needed more time to get the issue settled, or at least in a usable picture for the fans.

An entanglement of authorities was soon visible, as some radio stations' sections opted to ignore at least one response from an administrator, by opting to take the high road to the club chairman, not the board chairman, but one who represents the fans and members.

He did not fall into the trap laid out, refusing to discuss the matter and responding that those who have talked on the issue suffice. They wanted a fans’ position heard, refusing such an exit.

The speculative sports media was awash with reports that the future of Clatous Chota Chama as well as Denis is uncertain despite that their contracts run out at the end of June, which meant two or at most three months remaining if one adds a few weeks to finish the haggling or procedural endings to staying or departing.

On account of the distraught atmosphere about both the technical bench and the squad, not to speak about the leadership, and the fact that the side has a caretaker coach until the end of the season, it is difficult to see where decisions on the squad will be made as this has to do with technical advice.

No one has a map of the playing strategy for next season or say the needs of the squad based on such a strategy, outside summary sentiments on good, bad, and worse players, etc.

Some of the discomfort appeared to arise from the fact that upper and upper-middle premier league sides are also in the hunt for players from the top cream of the league, such that a side like Ihefu SC is said to be knocking on Yanga and Simba SC doors for this or that player, not to speak of Azam FC.

In previous years it would be the city rivals who at the end of the season would be on a shopping spree for the best players during the season, but increasingly they face local and regional rivalry.

The previous season’s top scorer from Geita Gold FC moved to a club in Lubumbashi, FC Lupopo, while another top striker, Abdulhamis Suleiman ‘Sopu’, ditched the archrivals to get playing time at Azam FC. 

This situation was more visible when Feisal Salum dared the Jangwani Street outfit on a departure contract clause.

In that sense, the fan base and membership are increasingly worried about whether the leadership at Msimbazi Street outfit will be able to retain their best players, not to say who will decide who the best players are and on what terms they can stay. 

Were former head coach Abdelhak Benchikha still around, everyone would know who is going to make the relevant decisions, in which case there would be less soul-searching on whether anyone in the leadership cares about retaining this or that player.

Thus a kind of spontaneous or voluntary concern with that issue was coming up or had to come up on account of a sort of vacuum in the club, so the fan base takes the role of trying to guide the leadership on the issue, or at least register concerns which can play a part in how decisions are finally made, etc.

What may have been somewhat surprising was the extent to which the prospects of Denis leaving the side disturbed the fan base or voluntary spokesmen for the fans, while this wasn’t exactly the case for pundits or a range of discussants of the issue.

The player in the Msimbazi Street squad they seemed to value most was Chama, while the fans appeared to be more concerned with Denis, whether it was due to how the departure prospects were relayed, or from some other focus since one is a professional with years at the club and the other is a relative newcomer.

The fans could be worried that it is due to not valuing the player that he would be leaving, whereas that issue is two-sided, as to what other clubs are ready to offer in case he has been sufficiently impressive.

With six to seven matches remaining on the calendar, chances that these issues remain under cover are few as each player has to make decisions, though perhaps not hurried decisions as the registration period runs up to the end of August.

There is also a question of techniques on the part of registration management as to what is the best time to talk to players when it is at the start of the end season period when they have offers they may be considering, or leaving the matter to early August when they know much better the value of extant offers on the market, and those they would discard or have skipped already.

Usually, club leaderships are more forthcoming on players it will drop for the next season – keeping it under wraps until the end of the season – while being less available as to players it will sign. Hence if a player is not dropped right away, as Kibu doesn’t look like one, the fans have a while to wait.