By Sheldon Hakata

ANYONE who has moved to a new house, or even school, understands the stress associated with shifting bases.
Football players are no different; they are equally affected by movements.
When players move, they often leave friends and family behind, or barely see them, given the demanding football schedule these days.
This leaves them facing serious challenges.
The only connection they have with the support structure is through technology and maybe short visits which can often leave a player feeling lonely or isolated.
On the field, players need to adjust to their new team’s way of doing things; getting to know and understand each other as well as their roles and abilities on the field.
Fans play a pivotal role.
The new soccer season is upon us again.
Clubs have been busy since December last year, courting their targets to ensure by the time the transfer window opened on New Year’s Day, they would have completed all negotiations and were ready for registration.
This explains why all clubs have coaches — retained or appointed.
When the season begins on March 10 2018, it will be football matters on the pitch and not in the boardrooms.
However, it seems some players are negatively affected and not enriched by moving to new clubs.
For example, Dominic Mukandi starred for Makepekepe in 2015 but crossed the floor at the start of the 2016 season to join Dynamos where he hoped his stock would rise.
Things did not pan out as he expected.
In a bid to regain his form, Mukandi joined Ngezi Platinum Stars at the beginning of 2017, and again he was a pale shadow of the midfielder he was at Makepekepe.
Midfielder Mukandi, nicknamed Zato, saw his intended move from Ngezi Platinum Stars to FC Platinum hit the brickwall. He is now back at CAPS United.
Brian Muzondiwa is another case of a player whose fortunes did not transform with moving to a new club.
When he moved to FC Platinum from Black Rhinos, the move did not bear him fruits.
He has since retraced his footsteps back to the capital and is now with CAPS United.
Just two seasons ago, Wisdom Mutasa was the national Under-23 captain, while at club level he had developed into a key player for Norman Mapeza’s FC Platinum.
He even impressed European scouts who took him, alongside Aces Academy teammate Walter Musona, to Slovakia in June 2015.
But things went sour in Europe and the midfielder returned home after a few months.
He joined ZPC Kariba and later moved to Dynamos and since then, he has been trying to find his way back to the player he once was.
By the time he headed to Tanzania in March 2017, the midfielder was a pale shadow of his former self.
The worst example is Dynamos star midfielder Denver Mukamba who continues to receive flak for his ‘bad boy’ behaviour.
Denver got entangled with a group of drug abusers during his stint in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he featured for reigning ABSA Premiership champions Bidvest Wits.
At the peak of his career, Mukamba was so good that German coach, Klaus Dieter Pagels, who had a stint with the Warriors, handed him the captaincy of the squad in a World Cup qualifier against Egypt.
He was 21 years old then.
His career suffered a massive reversal during his stay in South Africa where he got into drugs and subsequently lost his way, leading to Wits offloading him.
It could be argued that the move to Mzansi seriously affected the player; he was obviously overwhelmed by the new environment.
However, there are players who have thrived after moving — an example is Leornard Tsipa.
The talented footballer rekindled a bright soccer career in 2016 under Lloyd Chitembwe at CAPS United that earned him recognition that saw him feature on the Soccer Stars calendar and being top goal scorer with 11 goals.
His experience brought variety in the Green Machine’s attack and brought the best out of other players. Leonard Tsipa balanced the CAPS United team after enduring a long absence from premiership football, having moved to division one.
Farai Mupasiri was once deemed excess baggage at DeMbare and went on to excel at Shabanie Mine last season.
This season, spare a thought for the player who has taken the decision to move to the club you support; he may require a little bit more time before finding his footing.