New coach but same ‘Blank Bullets’: Munthali fails to resuscitate the People’s team
A day after turning to club legend Heston Munthali to replace another Bullets icon, Gilbert Chirwa, in a bid to stop the rot, FCB Nyasa Big Bullets fired blanks again. The People’s Team is now drifting dangerously close to a relegation battle few supporters would have imagined at the start of the season.
“Blank Bullets” (BB), as some rivals and critics are now calling them, failed to find a winning formula against Moyale Barracks, extending a worrying run of results and raising fresh questions about whether changing the coach was enough to solve the club’s deeper problems.
Supporters hoping for an immediate response under Munthali were left frustrated as Bullets continued to struggle for goals, confidence, and points at Joyce Chitsulo Stadium in Mwanza, where their attacking rhythm once again lacked fluency in key moments.
“We have played well and our plans were working. I am only disappointed with the way we missed our chances,” said Munthali after the game, acknowledging both structure in build-up play and inefficiency in front of goal. He ignored the fact that such results led to the firing of his predecessor.
The fear among supporters is no longer how many points Bullets are behind the leaders, but how close they are getting to the teams below them, with consistency proving more worrying than isolated results.
Moyale Barracks will have themselves to blame after surrendering an early lead in a match they largely controlled for long spells.
The equaliser briefly reignited Bullets’ supporters, who could be heard singing “Bullets n’kumadzulo,” a chant suggesting the team is known to revive as the game approaches its twilight zone. But this time, that belief never fully materialised into a comeback, highlighting a growing lack of authority in decisive phases of matches.
The result marked an uneasy start to Munthali’s tenure, as FCB Nyasa Big Bullets continue their search for stability following the departure of Gilbert Chirwa, whose exit came amid increasing pressure over results and performance standards at the club.
Chirwa had only been in charge on an interim basis since December 2025, overseeing a transitional spell that produced mixed performances and exposed inconsistency in both attacking output and game management, ultimately prompting another change at the helm.
Bullets quickly promoted Munthali, a former club figure with deep ties to the institution, hoping familiarity and internal knowledge would translate into immediate improvement. However, early signs suggest the problems are more systemic than managerial, particularly in chance creation and finishing efficiency.
With the draw extending their winless concerns, Bullets find themselves at a critical juncture where tactical adjustments alone may not be enough, and attention increasingly shifts toward whether the squad itself has the balance and sharpness required to reverse their current slide.
