Shungu’s last chance saloon

Rayon serve him with last warning By the time you finish reading this article, Raoul Jean Pierre Shungu could not be in charge of Rayon Sport much as he could still be a force to reckon with, thanks to his past achievements. The Congolese born coach’s untouchable status at Rayon Sport seem to be withering particularly with the club’s top brass something that you could not think of in the past. Tables seem to have turned on Shungu and voices of discontent have began budding in the Blues’ camp with many saying that the flamboyant tactician must scale down on his ego and act as an employee and not as the employer or else he finds himself jobless. Not before has the ‘untouchable’ Shungu been under the kind of pressure that he’s feeling right now, insiders say his days as Rayon coach are increasingly becoming numbered. Or if he didn’t know, now he knows at least after receiving what his bosses called, the ‘last warning’ it is in a written form and signed by the club’s Secretary General Olivier Gakwaya on behalf of the executive committee. In the ‘last warning’ letter dated April 21, 2009, Shungu is reminded of every grave mistake that he has allegedly committed during his second spell at the club and ends with a stern warning about his future conduct in his capacity as Rayon Sport coach. “After it emerged that you’re responsible for the club losing Rwf 15,000,000 on foreign players whom you promised will never desert the team, five have already left, one of them Joseph Kaniki, this is minus their outrageous monthly wages. “In addition to that, you brought in five players for trials insisting on how good they were but you yourself saw them first hand that they were not good after the club had spent a lot of money on them. “Again after that you went to the media and complained that you were never involved in the signing of the new players with the aim of bringing confusion between the club administration and the fans,” the letter read in parts. The club goes on to indict Shungu for spreading bad politics between the players and his assistant Jean Baptiste Kayiranga, whom he accuses of insubordination. “It has also emerged that you don’t respect your bosses (Rayon Sport executive committee) after you went public on radio and announced that you had resigned contrary to the truth. You never considered the consequences of such an act, which you probably thought was a joke.” Fools Day blunder On April 1, while appearing on Contact Fm, Shungu announced that he had resigned as Rayon Sport coach, an act that was greeted with nothing but rage from the club faithful,he was just fooling them as it was Fools day but his bosses never saw the light side of his joke. Rayon also accuse Shungu of causing bad blood between the club and the football federation, Ferwafa when he was the Amavubi Stars assistant coach, a role he resigned from just over a month ago citing personal reasons. Despite resigning as Branko Tucak’s assistant two weeks earlier because the two men had personal differences, the Sports ministry and Ferwafa sent him on a mission to spy on the game between Egypt and Zambia in Cairo, Rayon were furious that they were not consulted nor did Shungu inform them of his trip. Shungu is an idol and the messiah in the eyes of Rayon fans and anything bad said about him will never go down well with them. To them, Shungu is Rayon and Rayon is Shungu. Because of the club’s perpetual financial crisis, some players have been paid while others have gone three months without pay. As a result, players on Tuesday took a bold and unprecedented decision when they decided that enough was enough with the chaos being caused by the administrators and coaches. They trained on themselves wishing not to be taken through the drills by either Shungu or Kayiranga. Long serving fullback Mike Yossam assumed the coach’s role.Shungu is Rayon’s most successful coach having won them four league titles (1997, 1998, 2002 and 2004), one Cecafa Club championship (1998). After guiding the club to the 2004 league title, he left for greener pastures in Seychelles where he worked as their technical director until his return (to Rayon) last season. Ends

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Shungu’s last chance saloon