Why did Silver Strikers allow Blessings Tembo’ contract to run down?

The fact that Blessings Tembo was left to enter into the final year of his contract is a damning indictment of how badly the club is being run in some areas.

Now that the influential midfielder has dumped the Bankers for Be Forward Wanderers, their executive committee is  trying everything to stop the move despite knowing that he signed when he was a free agent.

Slowly, the Central Bankers are turning into Arsenal FC by losing their key players to rivals almost in each and every local transfer window.

In 2015, Silver Strikers lost Peter Wadabwa to Wanderers and a year later, their captain Lucky Malata followed suit when he turned down a new offer to join the Blue side of the town.

All these players were left to enter into the final years of their contracts, making it very difficult for the Bankers to strike new deals with them as they were at liberty to seek greener pastures away from Area 47.

As is common place with players when negotiations are opened, all avenues are explored and interested parties will be considered. Wanderers’ desire to land Tembo came into play midway through last season and it became clear a week after the conclusion of the season that the player wanted to leave as his terms were not met by his former club.

But was Tembo’s move to Wanderers inevitable? The player had all the reasons to extend his stay at Silver Strikers but failure by the executive committee to listen to his terms forced him to weigh up his options.

It was understood that the former Civo Service United (now Civil Sporting Club)  winger is one of the senior players who was earning less than what he deserved and when he tried to demand for an improved package, he was given a cold shoulder.

This was too suicidal by the current executive committee who knew that Wanderers were hunting for Tembo’s signature after being tipped that the player had just months left in his contract with the Bankers.

And on the final day of his contract, he demanded K4 million signing on fee and a monthly salary of K4 00 000 but the Bankers offered him K3 million signing on fee and a monthly salary of K300 000 which the player turned down.

This was avoidable if the Area 47 giants had begun their negotiations with the player a year before entering into the final stages of his contract.

Previously, the Bankers used to dominate over Wanderers and Nyasa Big Bullets due to the then financial status of the club as the Blantyre based giants were struggling financially.

However, with the coming in of Be Forward and Nyasa Manufacturing Company, the financial status of Wanderers and Bullets has improved tremendously and with this financial power, it will be very difficult for the Area 47 giants to keep their best players as it’s always not easy for players to turn the Blantyre sides down when they come searching.

Silver Strikers executive committee should try to tie players’ contracts before entering the final stages of their current deals to avoid becoming Bullets and Wanderers’ feeder club.

Changes need to be made to the way the club is being run to ensure that never again do they find themselves in such a shambolic situation whereby their three star player have left for nothing to join a rival club. It’s time to wake up.