By Francis Ngira,
“Team work is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” hold that thought by Andrew Carnigegie as it will help you approve my prescription.
In the beginning of the 2013 season many pundits named AFC Lepards among the teams to watch in Kenya Premier League. They had one of the best squad on paper. This was after they superficially rectified a few issues that saw them miss the 2012 KPL tittle by a hare’s breath under the tutilage of Dutch man Jan Koops.
Their lucrative sponsorship deal with the Sugar millers, Mumias further added the icing on the cake making its new troops the envy of their peers both in the top flight and the lower tier because of their best terms and conditions of service.
They missed the league tittle once again in 2013, finishing in the second position. They had a consolation in the GOtV shield after firing coach Luc Eymael and signing James Nandwa and a couple of big player as is the club’s norm. Nandwa had hardly been with the team for a time enough to evaluate his performance before he was sacked in May 2014. He was later replaced by another Dutch man Pieter De Jongh.
After all these AFC Leopards is yet to pose a real challenge to other clubs with the same quality and financial muscle as them, oops! GOR Mahia have been without a sponsor or rather a definite source of finances but there’s no time this season Ingwe has been above them on the log. I think they need you and I to help them rejuvenate back to that big side they last were in 1998. I’ll be the first one to offer my services ‘pro bono’.
RECRUITMENT POLICY:
Most big teams just like you were once, have a policy that guide their recruitment of new players; I don’t think AFC has one and if you do then it’s either not followed or it needs to be reviewed.
‘Why sign a thirty year old just because he can speak six languages at the expense of a nine year old who has already learnt four languages?’ Remember the big signings of: Pascal Ochieng, Peter ‘Pinchez’ Opiyo, Wagaluka Dan, Floribert Ndayisaba, Pattila Omotto, Emmanuel Tostao, Paul Were, Eric Masika, Khalid Juman and now J Wanyonyi.
Despite them being very good players, all the above signings were done in a hurry without any much thought put into them. For instance, Why sign a good player like Were from Tusker to later loose him to ‘Usuthu’ for free instead of buying him completely from FISA? Why sign young players to suffocate benches and some terraces if you don’t have concrete plans for them? Why go for unsettled players knowingly just because of their big names?
To cut the many questions short, AFC Leopards should fire its scouts if it indeed does have any or hire some if they don’t have, do it before tomorrow evening!
OFFLOAD ALL USELESS EATERS AFTER 2014:
Every team must have that good player, but a good player is useless if he does not work; I know this sounds harsh but hey! Modern day soccer is a business and a lucrative one for that matter. The current AFC Leopards squad represents a den of egos, players who cannot work if they know they’ll not be credited for the end result.
Conduct a thorough self audit and see who among your senior players are as selfless as capatain Martin Imbalambala then offload the rest!
A NEW COACH:
I love the expertise brought into Africa specifically Kenya by foreign coaches however I am not a fundermentalist of the same idea. Not all times are foreign coaches good for our local football problems. Now that all the few good local coaches are engeged, AFC should get a well qualified foreign coach from East Africa and give him ample time to rebuild a disciplined, cohesive and committed young squad blended with a few senior players for the future.
If you have no names try the following: former Ethiopia national team coach who guided them to the AFCON 2013 in South Africa, Sewnet Bishaw, Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) current head coach George ‘Best’ Nsimbe, Rwanda’s duo of Coach Casa Mbungo (Police F.C), Vincent Mashami (Asst. Coach A.P.R) or Burundi’s best tacticians Cedric Kaze and Gilbert ‘Younde’ Kanyankole who are currently with Athletico F.C and Vital ‘O’ respectively.
This coaches have reputations to secure this making them people to help you steer yourselves to success and will also help you scout for real raw talent to increase competition unlike the foreigners who know little about African football leave alone the Kenyan game.
The author is a live sports camera operator who sees all these through his lens though without sound.
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