Dynamos and Gor Mahia in standoff over Situmbeko
courtesy of supersport.com
Power Dynamos have stated that Julius Situmbeko’s move to Kenyan champions Gor Mahia is invalid.
The Kitwe club insists Situmbeko has a long-term contract with them and that his move to Gor Mahia is illegal.
Power secretary Ricky Mafunda said in an interview in Kitwe on Saturday that they have never received any official correspondence from Gor Mahia regarding Situmbeko.
“Whatever transaction they claim happened should be considered illegal because if they were truly genuine then they would have contacted us or better still gone through the Football Association of Zambia,” Mafunda said.
Gor Mahia reportedly sealed the deal with Situmbeko earlier this month in Kenya when the midfielder was on Cecafa Cup duty there with Zambia after some eye-catching performances at the tournament.
“Situmbeko was on national duty and how can a club claim to have signed him when they did not even approach us?” Mafunda said.
Meanwhile, Situmbeko has reported back for pre-season training at Power who regrouped on December 20 at Arthur Davies Stadium in Kitwe.
Situmbeko joined Power this season from Division One South club K-Stars after spending the 2012 season on loan at Konkola Blades.
The midfielder has enjoyed good form at Power under coach Tennant Chilumba who took over in late June.
Double signing
Gor secretary general George Bwana told supersport.com that officials from Power Dynamos were trying to hijack the deal and threatened to report the matter to Fifa accusing the player of double signing.
“It is sad that after we agreed terms with Julius Situmbeko who signed a contract dated 7th December and we even paid him the sign on fee as agreed the player has failed to arrive. We followed the laid down Fifa rules as the player was categorical his contract was ending in December 2013.”
“It is sad that people do not respect football rules and I have been getting phone calls from Dynamos officials claiming Situmbeko denied signing any deal and yet everything is on paper,” Bwana told supersport.com.
Supersport.com have in its possession the contract signed by Situmbeko and witnessed by Nkana captain Sydney Kalume with both parties in agreement.
An official from Power Dynamos who only identified himself as the Vice Chairman insisted Situmbeko was not for sale.
“As far as I know Situmbeko has a long contract with Power Dynamos and if anything Gor Mahia were supposed to negotiate with us directly,” the official noted.
Situmbeko acknowledges he had signed a deal with Gor but added, “I signed the deal but Power Dynamos have refused to let me go. I agree I was paid my signing on fee but I have requested to return it because the issue is going out of hand,” Situmbeko told supersport.com.
If at all anyone who matters in Gor Mahia is listening out there my advice is: let us forget Situmbeko and move on unless someone is championing that course for electioneering. The Situmbeko matter is an unnecessary distraction. Allow the young man to refund the money and bring this unnecessary showdown between Dynamos and Gor Mahia to an end. Even any neutral will agree that Gor Mahia did not get its act right in this deal.
In the preceding article Oduor12 has shed a lot of light on why no good player can leave his home country to play in a foreign land if his new-team-to-be is just as ordinary (if not more) than his home team. We failed to get Ed Mubiru who was even training with us on several occasions and is just next door in Kampala. He will we manage to haggle with a team thousands of kilometres away in Kitwe?
Kassam Mwivangano has quite aptly reminded us that it is the “native” oxygen, water and even “native” vegetables that have kept us going in Kenya and we are proud of what we are. Let us go for the uncut diamonds and provide the TB with all the necessary wherewithal to prime them into maestros. Let us focus on strengthening the team for ‘this years’ assignment (2014 is already here) instead of starting wars that we shall obviously lose.
If we want a showdown with Power Dynamos then we should prepare thoroughly and then invite them for a two-leg friendly match in Mombasa and Nairobi and we make sure that we thrush them thoroughly in both occasions. Then they shall learn to respect K’Ogalo. By the way I hope someone will care to account for the money if and when Situmbeko refunds it.
Ati “… the player was categorical his contract was ending in December 2013.” Who told someone that the Situmbeko is a man of God who can never tell a lie? Chances are high that the young man was broke and he urgently needed some pocket money, being so far away from home. In any case was there any harm in calling Power Dynamos and corroborating the young man’s story. Looks like we never learned from the Rodrigues and Felixinho sagas. You guys just enjoy your festivities but stay on notice that we are watching and waiting and you owe us lots of explanations.
George Bwana vs Julius Situmbeko Who’s Telling the truth. Read article below and be the judge.
Talk to my club if you want me, Situmbeko tells Gor Mahia
Posted by: The People in Sports Fanatique December 6, 2013 0 327 Views
Zambian striker Julius Sitombeko has thrown a gaffe at Gor Mahia, saying if indeed they are serious in getting his services, they should talk to his club Power Dynamos. The Kenyan champions have been linked with the Zambian striker with reports in some quarters suggesting they had already agreed on a two-year deal.
“Yes, they have talked to me but they have not talked to my club,” Sitombeko told Sports Fanatique. “If indeed, they are serious in me joining them, then they should follow the right procedure and go talk to Power Dynamoss,” the striker said. He says he does not have a problem with coming to the Kenyan Premier League, asking K’Ogalo to make their interest serious.
“Kenya is a good place and from what I have heard, the league is quite tough. I would not mind coming to join the Kenyan league but again the buck stops with my team. My contract with them expires next year so I cannot make a solo decision,” added Sitombeko. Gor Mahia secretary General George Bwana has said they would open talks with Dynamos after the Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup.
“We are definitely going to start talks with them but we have to let the player concentrate on his assignment here with his country first,” Bwana said. Meanwhile, the Zambian is confident his team can win this year’s Cecafa title.
“Nothing has changed as far as our ambitions are concerned and now that we are in the quarter finals, we have to work hard to get to the finals and I am confident we can win,” he said. Zambia progressed to the quarters as winners of Group B with a clean record, two wins and a draw. – By TIMOTHY OLOBULU
This is the main reason why George Bwana should go for having lied to the public. If Gor Mahia were serious with the player, the transfer rule is very clear. You have to engage his club after talking to the player. There is noway that you can just claim to have signed a player without agreeing with his club first. George Bwana, you are the Secretary General of Gor Mahia and you should know this better.
To be a devil’s advocate, may be George Bwana cheated the office and kept part of the money for his personal use.
so why are we haggling over one relatively unknown player?we have our own proven players here.lets cut the unnecessary chase and concentrate on one of our own…time is not on our side,we need to act fast!
There are two approaches to recruitment…., you dont need an expert to tell you this..
1. wait for a player to run down hia contract and recruit him as a free agent. Since the player is not attached to any club, this is the most simple approach as the players words is final.
2. poach a player from another club but this means you have to go through the club officials, becuase the player is a property of the club. Clubs who value such players make it very difficult to negotiate and this is usually the most difficult approach.
Who does scouting for gor mahia ? Which of the two strategies does the club deploy ? Does gor mahia have scouts ? We bloggers can create a scouting branch for them. This transfer sagas is becoming one too many for this once great club……..trust me, this is certainly not the last one if we do not professionalize th club.
Please forget about situmbeko and the money and let’s move on….we have very good midfielders and wingers withtin east and central africa region who can fill the gap.
Please just bring back Rama Salim. I see that Logarusic is desperately trying to sign him.
Oduor12 that excerpt in your post 3 above has arrested my mouth free. Looks like slowly, we are getting to know who is being economical with the truth.
Bobby Williamson must have had a wish list of new signings when the season came to an end. The question is: was Situmbeko in that wish list. I am sure not even members of the EC would want to answer that question. My take is Situmbeko is just a knee jerk reaction now that he happened to be passing by and was quite good with the ball. Talk of roadside decisions…They have never ceased.
In a nutshell, let us revert back to BW and Sir Bobby rateng wuod Ogolla’s wish list. Fred Odhiambo is right; time is not on our side.
We have a bloated executive community of 11 officials ( in fact a complete football team) so was GB acting alone on GM’s behalf. I hope not, if so who witnessed this so called “deal” on behalf of GM apart from Bwana. Did the approach have the go-ahead of the EC or was it a scheme by the 3 to swindle GM?
FOR THE UMPTEENTH TIME WHY IS GB & THE TREASURER STILL ALLOWED 2 “TRANSACT” 4 GM
WHEN THEY WON’T OPTED OUT OF OFFICE. WHO WILL ANSWER 4 THEIR GAFFES. AR PLEASE SHOW LEADERSHIP!
I thought signing of players is the responsibility of the couch not sg!
Hii mambo ya Gor Mahia inaweza kupatia mtu depression. I see Gor Mahia almost being run like a Jubilee goverment!! Incompetence and mistakes
What is happening to Gor is not special. The world over the fans believe that they know better than the TB. Even ‘The Special (Happy) One’ gets challenged by fans. But give he same fans one day to manage the club and they will grow white hair in a day as compared at the rate Mourinho has done in eight years. But as we criticise the EC and TB, which is our right, we should also remember that we could be wrong and the TB right. If the TB is clueless as we claim then am not sure the Simbas and Yangas would be going for Loga and BW. What will make our team great is positive criticism. Let us offer the solutions as we point out the problems. Personally I think the SG and AR have tried to get us the players we have pointed out. I hope the TB had also pointed out the same players. We wanted Sahat of Sudan who El Mereikh have grabbed. Situmbeko and Walusimbi really want to play for Gor but either our mishandling the issues is causing us problems. Mosoti was given a better offer by Simba though we ‘slept’ on the job of offering him a new offer which he could still have refused anyway, just like Rooney going to ManU. We wanted Atudo but his heart is in Tusker so is Mieno’s heart at Sofapaka. Okwi opted for Yanga.Situma and Keli thought that ‘home’ is best. Apart from Omino of Chemelil to fill Mosoti’s position. And now HomeBoyz is on our case for player tapping.For the rest of the positions we can fill using local talent but our problem is the attack where we can do with a profilic and prven goal-poacher. As it is there are no ‘good’ strikers in Kenya and even Amrouche and other coaches agree. The problem is that the worl over good strikers cost a fortune and regionally we cannot beat the Sudanese or Tanzanians when it come to finances.
nothing to do with 20 or 40 officials. Bwana should come out clearly how he wastes gor money. did he pay the players from his pocket? i do not think so.
so long as officials are being elected thru emotions nothing much will happen. unfortunately i am one of those who will not go anywhere near the stadium when elections are being held. the simple reason that i cannot tolerate humans behaving like animals. but as much as i critisize i will always give an alternative. for now i will not announce what it is but i urge you to be on lookout. this has something to do with ALL.FOR now let me not say much.
gor shud now concentrate on the local players, if gor players are being recruited by other outside teams then it means we do have good players. there is no point in chasing outsiders if the club knows very well that it cannot afford these players. even getting good players locally will be hard cause of the assumption gor has money. the other time gor hoodwinked everyone about a youth team. some of us condemned how this was being done. so where is this development side now?
It seems Situmbeko himself is not interested with joining GM. Consequently, he has conspired with his club to secretly extend his contract so GM should forget about him and look for other qualified players who are far much better than him. That is my advise. We have some players like Oboya who could be better than him but I don’t see the technical bench using them? Who knew Owino Calabar is very good until James Nandwa used him in CECAFA and later Amrouche used him against Nigeria?
In short as the recruitment goes on, only bring to the club those who show they are interested and will give a 100%.
As a Zambian I’m dissapinted with Gor Mahia. How do you deal with a player and pay him $15,000. Then turn around and claim that his club who he has a contract with are being difficult. Power bought Situmbeko last year for $30,000. Why would they sell him for less? Worse still they were never considering. Sale, and even if they were Zambian players are not cheap.
Take a look at all the comments posted and everyone is in agreement that Gor Mahia should concentrate on recruiting local players and forget about Situmbeko. No blogger has laid any blame on the Technical Bench. There is consensus that apparently the TB’s role has been hijacked by the EC. Actually bloggers’ fears are that we may have a re-run of last year’s transfer season that was equally not well-exploited.
Bloggers are equally not responsible for Sir Bobby’s blonde hair. His hair became blonde when he was assistant coach in Sofapaka. Kalekwa, Matano and Sofapaka fans know better what happened…not Gor Mahia fans and certainly not bloggers who regard Sir Bobby so highly.
SCANDALS AND FIASCO
Bwana was wrong…this resembles similar scandals Bwana was involved with the players that included Felixihno (Nigeria), Rodrigues (Brazil), Abby Natty (Nigeria) etc.
Bwana has the guts to tell press that he signed the said player and said contract witnessed by a fellow Zambian player/teammate.
PARENT CLUB
George Bwana, you must involve the immediate parent club of the said player due to contractual obligations. After the agreement with the parent club, then you can make any announcement that you have signed so and so. We are tired of wishful thinking regarding serious business matters of the club that need to be taken seriously by the officials. These kids of utterances were for the yesteryear, where you can call press conference anytime and report your signings without involving the parent club.
PAST AND MOST EXPERIENCES
I can remember that Gor Mahia failed to sign Mubiru who even trained with us and he was just next door in Uganda. The same is choreographed in Situmbeko matter.
What are really the problems with Gor Mahia officials? Are they learned enough to understand the procedures of players’ recruitment?
Points to note with Bwana also include sale of Rama and Danny to foreign clubs. I can assure you that some of these officials’ pocketed money from the sale of Rama and almost pocketed money from Danny were it not of the stand of fans (green army).
QUESTIONS THAT NEED ANSWERS
1. Were the due process followed?
2. Was the technical bench team consulted before such moves were mooted? if so, what was the recommendations of Bobby Williamson?
3. Why can’t Gor Mahia Executive follow example of Sofapaka FC in recruiting foreign players?
4. Do our Executive Committee understand the laid down recruitment procedures and processes of recruiting foreign players?
5. Who is in charge of the Club recruitment processes?
6. In recruitment, where are the recommendations and input of our technical bench members?
ROLE OF TECHNICAL BENCH
Technical Bench must be involved fully in identification of the required players and their roles must revolve around assessing and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the team before any fresh additions can be made. Technical Bench must have a full assessment of the team SWOT Analysis as this will guide the club to prepare well and overcome all the weaknesses that were witnesses in previous season (KPL 2013).
LACK OF DIRECTION
As matters stands now, Gor Mahia is a team that depends on lady lack and fans to win games. Our planning is very poor and lack of focus. Our execution process is very poor with no impetus in addressing the needy areas in the team. When a team is recruiting players, you do not just go overboard to recruit several players that will not help the team. This exercise must be done strategically and with lots of prudence.
As much as I’m blaming Gor Mahia Executive Office in this fiasco, Technical Bench led by Bobby Williamson and John Bobby Ogola are not exempted either.
ROLE OF ASSISTANT COACH
What is the role of John Bobby Ogola as Assistant Coach in helping to develop the talent? I have never seen Bobby Ogola anywhere in Mombasa or other urban centres where several high level competitive tournaments are being played. Neither have I seen him in tournaments being played in Nairobi and schools games where there are real talents. In this regard, for long term posterity, how do we identify raw talent? How do we nurture these raw talents? Do we have the capacity within the TB to develop the team further?
All these years I have been watching football, I have never seen Bobby in any of Nationwide League matches which are even being played in Nairobi! On this matter, do we have intelligent scouts to help the technical bench?
CONCLUSION
May the Almighty God save Gor Mahia and open the eyes of the official and TB.
If this Situmbeko guy did sign 4r Gor & there was a witness then I think he shud be accused of double signing 2 FIFA & be burned 4r atleast 1 season so that he learn that GM is not a village team that he can joke around with.He admited that he did sign a contract & he is willing to return the money just bcos the matter is geting out of hand. He shud be purnished 4r playing with our minds. I cant blame GB bcos the player wud hv rfused 2 sign.