Gor Mahia go down 0-2 to Berkane
Gor Mahia was unable to overcome the absence of 5 key players and the coach as they went down 0-2 to RS Berkane of Morocco at Kasarani on Sunday.
Additional reporting from the Nation
Gor Mahia are left with one tall mountain to climb following Sunday’s painful 2-0 loss to Moroccan side RS Berkane in their Caf Confederation Cup quarterfinal first leg tie at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani.
A red faced Gor coach Hassan Oktay blamed the loss on the players’ strike that had seen them boycott training in the days leading up to the match.
Midway through the second half, a scary looking man ventured onto the pitch and gestured animatedly at a bewildered assistant coach Zedekiah Zico Otieno, letting him know in no uncertain terms that more was to be desired from the team.
“My job is very difficult. These types of games require players to be at the best frame of mind. Days before the match the players are on strike. You struggle so hard to motivate them all season and then this. A 2-0 loss because of this. I am so hurt. My job is hard,” said a dejected Oktay in his post match interview.
“The five missing players affected team balance and the quality of our performance today. That’s why we lost,” said Oktay.
While Gor took comfort in the experience of veteran Dennis Oliech, the Moroccans seemed to bank on midfielder Omar Namsaoui, who was constantly at the centre of many chances for Berkane.
He delivered a free kick in the 24th minute which ace midfielder Issoufou Dayo headed accurately into the net to temporarily silence the raucous home fans.
Barke El Helali added salt to injury for K’Ogalo in the 51st minute when he capitalised on a defensive mistake from Philemon Otieno to send the ball right into the net.
Boniface Omondi, Kahata and Oliech had good chances in the first half, but they lacked in luck and finishing technique and all their chances came to naught in that first half.
Chances were few and spread apart in the second half, as the Moroccans managed the game perfectly and purposed only to frustrate their opponents by holding the ball within their area.
Shortly through the second half, and with the vocal terrace fans demanding changes in the squad, coach Otieno introduced Erisa Ssekisambu just shortly after he had brought Nicholas Kipkurui for Francis Mustafa.
Sekissambu came through with a last chance in the 78th minute but goalkeeper Abdelaalai M’Hamdi lay on the path of the ball to make it another incredible save.
Good fight guys.we are loosing in our league and against african giants.This is our stage and we move up from there next time.i love you guys.am glad watching you on the continental stage.The bar is set.no going down.Lets focus.
Even with that loss, I have to congratulate the team for fighting it out against Berkane. You lose some, you draw some, you win some. We live to fight another day. It wasn’t going to be easy without key players and with that fixture congestion. We learnt a lesson or two from the ordeal. Thanks everyone.
This is where we belong and what a journey it has been. Let’s plan to buy some quality players from West Africa to fill in those gaps as we come back next year.
Let players rejoice now for they have achieved what they wanted,what a disjointed game I have watched today,very boring,players just played casually without the vigour, they promised to disappoint the EC and diehard fans over salary and they did the same,No patriotism among the players,how can they down tool or go slow with such a huge match just a day,awuoro !!!! Jasego ,we need a box to box midfielder and a lethal striker for jausenge is on his way out of the green army.oliech is aged and should rest instead of spoiling his legendary name in Kenyan football. The game just reminds me of the Rayon sports group stage at kasarani.
You have said the truth, these players refused to go to camp except Ssekisambu and Mustapha, they promised to make the EC and fans cry.
Now let them celebrate the loss!
This is the truth many people will not accept just praising players and shouting they must be paid, yet their salaries were settled, why do you throw away a continental match for allowances?
obviously the boycott impacted the players negatively but still today was HISTORICAL in several ways.
1. Oliech becomes the first CECAFA player to feature in the quarterfinals of two continental cups.
2. Gor and Simba becomes the first CECAFA teams to play in the CAF quarter finals, same weekend, first leg at home and not take advantage.
3. Zico becomes the first CECAFA coach to feature as a player and a coach in CAF quarterfinals.
I hope the player boycott resumes tomorrow…..
@Jakoyo, i pity you. The rest of us appreciate the fact that we reached this point and we will make a step further next year. Kudos to the players and TB. For those fans who always put us at loggerhead with the soccer authorities may God put some wisdom in your heads. My thinking is that now we put our efforts in winning the double this year. I hope the players are on the same page as me
Dan Original, players who can promise to make Ec and fans cry, goes ahead to give a miserable show, can not build on anything.
It means they don’t intend to play in the money brackets of europe and other teams elsewhere, people who refuse to camp?
I know many will shout as how they must be paid or what what but i know many of us are moving forward because of some sacrifices, some of which were just to keep a name, for nothing!
Did you see your Legendary Njagga tactician Zico in an acting Head Coach capacity? How did you like his approach to the game, tactics and formation complete with team shape? That is the best of Zedekiah Otieno on Offer in any Head Coaching role he has ever undertaken. In GM he will remain a permanent/pensionable assistant to all foreign coaches that will ever guide Kogalo…
Let’s be honest here,it was an extremely poor show.it’s not what we expected.no fight,no spirit,no urgency…nothing.this team isn’t better than any of the teams we beat here in the group stages!
@Jakoyo, i pity you. The rest of us appreciate the fact that we reached this point and we will make a step further next year. Kudos to the players and TB. For those fans who always put us at loggerhead with the soccer authorities may God put some wisdom in your heads. My thinking is that now we put our efforts in winning the double this year. I hope the players are on the same page as me
@ Dan original, it’s sarcastic remark..let them continue with the boycott now that CAF second leg is a dead rubber and the local league is as good as won. This players MUST learn there are consequences ……
What a disgrace performance before the diehard fans,Dan original stop being sycophant, as much as the team reach this far,they did not deserve to disappoint us in our home turf yet we always remain loyal to the team and support the team with the little penny we have,remember there are teams that grind result yet they have no fanbase at all.Mature professionals do not make good their threats known and go and do the same in the pitch.they lost to a weaker team called Berkane,it is a shame and disgrace to Gor mahia fans.
Jo zico Ka koro ni Kure.koro gi wuoye wa. Chance ne omigi.ok aneno na.jasego wach aweni.
Are all bloggers here missing something;Gor Mahia is more of a threat if we play how Ze Maria taught.Our current coach boasts of his philosophy which to me appears like Patia serenkuma.Just look at how we play after conceeding leaves you wondering
It was a poor show, it is said… you rip what you sow
Honestly these boys needed to be motivated
Judging by how the team has performed at home in the past caf matches,nobody expected this kind of result and performance.
But this is football and anything can happen.a seemingly impossible task can be met with an improbable solution and that is what we need to work on.
If it doesn’t work it’s back to the drawing board with hard lessons learned.let’s conquer Kenya again but let’s do the double this time!!
Something to note; When Muguna and Kahata play those short passes in the middle of the pitch the team moves forward and chances are created.What if Ssekisambu and George blackberry are used on the wings to bulldoze themselves to the box since Berkane defenders and wingers have great physique just like the duo.Speed ya Bonface might not be applicable away. Joash and Momanyi pairing is good as today’s goals came from wingbacks error. Oliech if fed with good passes can use his experience to set up Kip or even score by himself.Lastly the type of play we advocate for Gor in my view can be got from coaches from Spain since the entire Laliga is fast tikitaka.Sportpesa can help us get a good Segunda B coach with his staff just like they do for Zarika.
Bogus display by Gor. Oktay has destroyed the Gor game. Poor idealess soccer. Gor game has deteriorated. There was no reason of losing to Berkane who seemed to be the weakest of the Arab teams.
Poor show by P.Otieno, G.Ochieng, Bertamunze. Even with the 5 missing players Gor would have still lost. Gor today displayed the real Oktay. Zico is basically out of his league as far as Caf championships are concerned.
He remained idealess in the touchline waiting to claim glory when deep down his spine, he knew that none would be forthcoming.
Gor was bogus, played like schoolboyz but all this I put on one Oktays doorstep.
Batambuze wasn’t on the pitch
Sorry, I meant Ssekisambu and Mustafa. Batambuze is ok.
Even though I tend to sometimes thnk Batambuze is being played wrongly just like J.Were and the Kenya situation.
An example is how Oliech was being played on sunday. He ended up being ineffective and bringing in Ssekisambu was not going to make any difference. And this is why I blast ‘coaches’ like Zico et Kimanzi types. The reason why someone like J.Were can score goals in Zesco and not score for Harambee is about approach. It will be the same with Oliech under Oktay.
@Dan original I saw something and suspected something.When two nil down I saw Kahata, Lawrence and Muguna combining well with short passes sometimes taking the ball to the wings.Could it be that at that point they disobeyed the coach’s philosophy and just did their own creating better chances.If we had Tuyisenge maybe those long balls could have helped and being critical to the coach would be frowned upon here. I believe we need a coach who understands Gor philosophy
… and if the players boycotted training simply because if allowances, that was the most unpatriotic thing to do. If you had been paid ur march salaries then why could not wait a little longer for the allowances. But my focus still remains on idealess coach. Gor players have played before on ‘boycott’ mode and still displayed good soccer. What I saw a demonstration of disjointed soccer and it only means that the coaches have no influence on the players. Those wild ‘piga mbele’ statements do not just happen, the usually mean the coach has no authority.
Looks like our ‘reading’ of the game is different. The moment i entered the stadium the first thing i noticed was the huge frames of our opponents. This meant that they were going to be a threat on aerial balls, and surely they were. The thing to do to the Arab teams is to use the advantage of the altitude to tire them by Omondi-type of running. Unfortunately we didn’t do this. To me we played according to our ‘depth’ of the day. There were good touches from Muguna, Kahata and Lawrence. Our defence despite not having the regular Shakava and Batambuze did well though the two goals were as a result of sloppy defending. As much as we say the team was the weakest we have played looks like they had a strategy which was to get as many cross balls as possible from the flanks. And it appeared that our left and right backs were the most over-worked players in that match. It’s unfortunate we didn’t feed our offensive as much as we should.
All in all i am proud of the performance but not the result
To the players who figured, congratulations. You will definitely talk about how far you got this year longers than all of us. I would like to forget this ONE as soon as possible. Gor players lost on the field and helped some of me (and those who care) discern the following;
The EC have lost in their management style. They do not know how to manage a team at this level (late salary payments, covering sponsor name on uniforms which just tell you they do not care about kitting the team). Gor has outgrown their current minds and dreams.
The fans cannot restrain in international matches. They still want to throw objects. Gor has outgrown some fans.
A foreign coach who just want to win local league but has no ideology or any formation attributable to him. Gor does not need any more dominance over local teams if we have to do this with foreign coaches.
Fellow bloggers – you are easily taken away with the coaches feel good comments and interviews. I have not experience any anxious moments from this team of late. I don’t feel the pain of such a through beating anymore. I have become indifferent. Do not be excited and distracted. Gor is experiencing degeneration slowly but surely and stunted growth packaged in inconsistent successes, an aloof and invisible EC whose consequences of their action and inaction are negatively reflected in the reaction of players. If nothing is done, Gor is moribund. When at the top, that’s the time to make more sacrifices and invest in new young players supported by the foreign legions and an ambitious coach. Can someone tell me who in this team will be there in the next 3 years? If nothing is done now and now you will surely reap the fruit of our complacency.
I wish you solace if your confidence was badly wounded. Gor will surprise you when you least expect
To the players who *FEATURED, congratulations.
@OJomondi, i agree with you on some points:-
1) The EC has to up their game. The boys needed to distraction at all as we approached this game. Unfortunately it happened just like it has before all our CAF matches. Management of industrial disputes is very important though i hear some EC members like it this way in order to further their internal ‘wars’
2) We cannot ‘cellotape’ our kit 7 matches into the tournament yet for a group of 27 players we can easily afford two sets of kit. Small shameful acts we can avoid. At least Simba SC did it
3) On the coach why do we only question his credentials when we lose. Whoever cares to watch Gor games there has been a lot of improvement with Lawi, Muguna and Kahata in the middle. It’s not the clueless game we are talking about. And by the way the conditions of a game at time dictate that the use the less of your mid of you have speedy wingers and strikers. for example crossing the ball when your striker is of Omondi’s height and the defenders are of yesterday’s height the it makes no sense.
4) On the fan behavior, they are Gor’s worst enemy. Was there any need to throw objects or streak into the field? The numerous fines we are incurring could be used to motivate the players
My call is to forget about yesterday , go to Msa , knock out Bandari and complete the season with a double. Currently the only ‘strong’ team remaining in the Shield is Bandari
Gor Mahia deservedly Lost to a useless arab team weaker than any we have played in the group stages. Our players are not even semi-professional but activists turned trade unionists led by chief inciter Oliech aka Old Legend and his lieutenants Kahata, Muguna and Philemon Otieno. Reverend Coach Zico another useless Legend displayed his coaching prowess for the whole of Africa to see and now he is known to be a quack tactician who cannot guide any big team in capacity of Head Coach. African Sports news website reports correctly that GM players showed utter unprofessionalism in days leading up to the match with only Ssekisambu and Mustapha in camp. Some like Philemon Otieno had to be fished from his place in Fedha Estate by officials who pleaded with him and was seen boarding a motorbike at Fedha Stage at 12.30 midday to head to Kasarani with the game slated for 4pm. How do you win with such shenanighans in the club? EC also is disjointed and corrupt could not talk to players in good time to avert this suicidal action plan that cost us the best chance to make it to the semi’s of Confed Cup. I believe it’s futile to work so hard to come this far then deliberately throw away everything in a fit of madness citing allowances. Oktay has done No Wrong in all this debacle. A team built around this current inciteful and ambitionless playing unit of old legends am afraid won’t give much. Sorry to all the fans who deserved better but got a raw deal
@Jasego, I feel for you but please hold the emotions. We are also feeling ‘down’ but we all reaped what we sowed. We have the window opening in two months time and I believe we have identified our targets for the next season. Our coach has no problem at all since when you are not in control of the playing unit but some mercenaries somewhere are there is not much you can do. We need to start rebuilding our team with some new faces. I have in mind players like Godfrey Ochieng’, Momanyi, Lawi and goalie Fred. As for Kahata he is still a very good player but i think Gor should now give him the blessings to go to Simba or elsewhere and make the money. This is not out of anything but the LOVE for the player and knowing the weakness/strengths of our team. And this should be applicable to Tuyisenge as well. We should not be selfish knowing that the lifetime of a soccer player rarely goes beyond 35 years
What you say is true, how do we side the management when they themselves operate in the dark. Players might be taking into activism, but right now if I may ask, can EC give me any reason to believe that what the players are doing is wrong. We just saw a full house in Simba vs Motema, if this happens for Gor, will the players get money in their pockets.
Long story short, the EC needs to demonstrate transparency first. Once this happens then fans will give support and will not take kindly these small domestic issues players keep raising. With a clean EC, I would support an expulsion of any player boycotting training, but when I hear of the Walusimbi saga followed by an executive giving ‘tongue twister’ explanations, I am left wondering whom should I believe.
Gor Mahia problem lies with management. Sadly there is nothing new I am saying.
An upright management would not have gone to P.Otieno’s house to look for him, an upright management would have held a press conference and explained why they had to play with 10 men. An upright management would have given a rundown as how the players had been paid as per the incomes earned vs expenditure. No matter how we look at it, Otieno had already ‘deflated’ the tyre, his presence and those he was in cahoots with was still going to take effect wether they were in the pitch or not.
Even Wolves gave MU 2=0 , what is so wrong if we are beaten? Wacha ujinga…
Some of you don’t even know Oliech anachesa namba ngapi.
@Jasego and the bloggers can you imagine Meddie Kagere boarding an Apiko heading to National stadium and waving to fans along the way .Look at how he plays this days;that is a man who has settled and won’t mind ending his career in that club.With good management even if you live in the slum I would prefer Gor to have a Toyota Noah for picking up these guys:Professionalism.Small private schools have school busses.I said here before millenials are very different employees if they don’t feel appreciated they leave they are not after job security.But today’s loss is NOT a strike but our playing style was not conducive for this stage
I am very disappointed with the performance of the players because of allowance whilst salaries have been paid! Surely did fans deserve this? Ring leaders need to be dealt with as soon as possible.
Allowanceso and bonuses are performance motivators and any player(s) trying to sabotage the team will be haunted by the spirit of Gor Mahia mahono.
Time is beckoning and excitement galore for an opportunity to partake in the once life time opportunity in writing/ reviewing/ and or structuring the mighty Kogalo’s organization structure. The hideout is somewhere in our Uhuru Park from 15.00 EAT. The desire to register GM as a company has been in the lips of many and this occasion cannot fail to excite those that will attend and ‘passengers’ alike.
Sometimes jumping into the boat without asking questions is dangerous and none other than Peter the apostle can attest to this fact when he found himself in the right place at the wrong time. My question is: Is registration of GM as a company the solution to problems /challenges /weaknesses that have bedeviled GM over the years? I never admired Sam Nyamweya’s management at FKF but the issue of community clubs I reason to think otherwise. In any case the ‘biggest club’ in the world is a community club. I am not talking about biggest in relation number of noise makers. Many proponents for the company have argued that registration of GM under societies act inhibit the club from tapping investors from the corporate world. That could be true but debatable and begs the question, are investors going to invest in GM because it is a company or because it is profitable, has good return on capital, its share yield is competitive to other investment alternatives?
Congratulations to the boys /TB/EC and the fans that made it to the stadium.
I have nothing against foreign lands and their players but buying an ordinary player and baptizing them professionals is sickening if similar quality or even better can be sourced locally. Rumor mills are already at it, insinuating tracking of some foreign players for GM’s weak link- defensive midfield. What has become of our coaches? I grew up in an environment where coaches made players and the list is endless of players turned around by their coaches. Ochola ‘Jau Kali’ is an example of a one legged FB2 when he joined GM and was turned into FB3 star with both legs functional. More recently, Innocent Wafula, and Eric ‘Marcelo’ Ouma joined GM as forward wing players and left GM as astute FB 2 & 3 respectively. Mike Okoth was a well respected goalkeeper during his school days and early days in competitive Kenyan league until someone discovered how to exploit his talent in a No. 9 position. I must say without any shade of doubt that in the recent past, a part from Jose Marcelo aka Ze-Maria, it is the GM players making coaches instead of the other way round. GM players turned around Dylan Kerr after a failed stint in South Africa, and a disgraced performance in Tanzania and he is paying back generously through blackmailing GM on those news papers that cannot survive without painting Africa black.
@Jasego, if you are still a proud member of TC, please turn Joachim Oluoch from central defense to defensive midfield. He has all the qualities you will require in a defensive midfielder and all he needs is a coach to help him achieve that. I say so with a lot of reservations because I know how recruiting foreign players come with some goodies that can easily blind the clubs original goal.
Posted 4/4/019
Good news regarding the efforts being made to better my beloved club GM. However, as I prepare for the meeting, I have engaged myself in intra-communication asking questions and answering those that are easy to answer, preferring to defer the difficult ones to team @jJasego and company. I am more touched by the explanation alluding to the fact that GM has been suffering all this time due to her registration status under Societies Act rather than Company’s Act. The move is good and must be supported from the onset but let’s not blind ourselves of what ails GM. If I liken GM to a computer, then the change that the meeting of 9th April may achieve is the change in hardware. But the disease and major treatment is required in the software – the operating system, which in my calculated guesswork has not been hampered by Cap 108 in any way. Nothing known under cap 108 has prevented GM from electing distinguished members into EC; the act has not prevented the club from forming a professional secretariat headed by a powerful CEO; Cap 108 has not prevented GM from dealing with hooliganism exhibited in GM matches. Cap 108 with all its limitations has not prevented GM from having their own stadium. It has not prevented EC from engaging the County Government of Kisumu to upgrade Moi stadium to international status for better business in GM matches. Cap 108 has not made it difficult for GM to see, acknowledge and act on the poor investment made in Erisa and Mustafa. Not even the much touted E-ticketing is forbidden under the Societies Act. I am also tempted to insinuate that the low membership at the club is not due to the Act. I remember clearly at the helm of madness at the landing of mobile telephony in Kenya, my preferred network of choice was Kencell because the other provider was always on safari. When the safari was over, Kencell found the going tough and changed to Celtel and later to Zain and the changes are ongoing. In short, deleting Cap 108 [Societies Act] and Inserting Companies Act, 2015 is a quick fix and will easily be achieved on the 9th. But organization reengineering or change as it is often referred to is a lengthy process, stakeholders driven, and process oriented exercise with its heart in culture change.
I must thank the boys, TB, Fans, EC who made the busy week a success. You have known that the Societies Act does prohibit the team from winning. KASARANI HERE WE COME.
Congratulations to the boys for turning up for the match. Your threat of boycott was real and you opted for go-slow at least to save the face of GM from letting a walkover. Of all the teams you have played, Berkane is the weakest and as is always the case with our beloved team we lost, not only to Berkane but also to Rayon sports the weakest team in the pool 2018. Losing a game is normal but destroying or throwing away what your employer hires you to do is criminal. In the military language such actions as displayed by the team GM can easily qualify as mutiny and are actionable. I have said it on this forum many times that it is not the best to hold your employer / employee ransom unless it is the last resort. The last resort here simply means; “pay me so that I leave”. No further business. Put differently, you go-slow against Berkane [I am not sure if that is what happened] because of DELAYED PAYMENTS, hand over the game to the opponent. One week later your employer “repaires” the mess and carries money bag into your pockets. How do you as employees redeem your mess? How do you ‘repair’ the game you handed over to the opponents?
In this forum, we have what I can refer to as mix and match. We have everyone here. We have professionals glued to their private practice or engaged by their employers in noble positions in their company hierarchies; we have business magnates – owners / Directors of their own businesses, small or big; we have soccer experts with all the knowledge of modern football formations [may be formulae] with coaching or no coaching experience; we have followers of the ‘Kanyamwa Juogi’ and will sing and dance to nothing but Gor Mahia; we have the hustlers [ please, not thieves] who whatever their situations, they will find a way to be with Gor mahia and finally we have one umbilical cord – Gor Mahia/ Kogalo Mayienga. Whoever tries to destroy this umbilical cord, be they players, EC, or fans that invade and destroy people’s property and club image – that is the enemy not the lose against Berkane.
Finally, let’s be honest. What will you do if you were the owner or Director of Gor Mahia, not this one we know but Gor mahia the company? You were busy looking for money to come and pay your employees and on your arrival you find they have thrown away the best business opportunity because you have delayed to pay them. They have thrown out the opportunity that was going to improve your P & L and Balance Sheet. They have thrown away the opportunities that are not only going to pay them the arrears in dispute but their salaries for some months to come. That is the time you will know that Kiondos though from the Kikuyus or Bantus of East Africa is patented as a National heritage of Japan and Nyatiti is not a Luo musical instrument but Japanese and Companies INA WENYEWE, not followers.
They say in my village that the word sorry cannot return the lost baby but it is the most Godly and humblest thing to do for inconveniencing others. I say sorry for the esteemed blogars and readers of this forum. After my network debacle I mistakenly posted what was not meant for posting- a wrong file. Any inconvenience caused is highly regretted. Only last document was meant for posting and Admin can act if they have the will to delete. Thanks
It is very painful to loose a match of this magnitude at this stage and in this manner before the home fans. It is at such a time that one chooses to react in a manner that they so choose. This could be looking at all the possible reasons for the lose. My reaction however is that we lost fare and square. This however does not mean a defeatist attitude but an admission to the spirit of sportsmanship. In fact is this way one heals quicker. But in the midst of this admission, there is also the other side of the coin. Never say it is over until it is over. This round thing a ball can always land anywhere. without being partisan, allow me to mention Man United vs PSG, it was a forgone case when they former visited Paris, but as it would turn out the ball landed somewhere else and the PSG went out. Am I trying to suggest an impossibility, could I be just comforting my self, be it may, there is a second leg to be played. The general torn of the conversation in my observation is that quite a number have even surrendered the second leg. This thinking basically suggests that we do not trust our players ability. These guys have kept us smiling up this far, can we also instill belief in them especially at a time such as this? I think we can. How do we do this, when we meet out there, encourage them, attend matches and still support with passion there local matches. I think this will contribute in building the momentum.
We are all sad but again come to think of it; do we really expect to reap a lot of harvest where we have not planted? Look at at the budgets of teams like Sundowns, TP Mazembe, Zamalek, Zesco, etc and you will realize that at times we expect too much from the team. Trade unionism currently gaining momentum in the team is a worrying trend but again how do you expect the best from your employees when you do not pay them? Let us not be deluded to expect a lot of patriotism from the current crop of players. It does not exist from their vocabulary. Pay them well and they will play; you fail to pay them and you will not get the results. Football is business and we need to invest in football to get good results and make money. The long and short of it is that there is urgent need to to explore ways of making the team financially stable, and actually a profit making entity. There are many good players out there but unfortunately we can not afford them. If we had the cash, we would not have lost Kagere, Walusimbi, David Owino, Musa Mohamed, among others. So the big question is, how do we make Kogalo a financially stable entity? If we can address this successfully, then I think more than half of the problem will have been sorted out.
I hear your cry, I feel your pain, I hear people shouting crucify him, crucify him. But I do not know who is to be crucified. Remain strong. K’ogalo need you now than ever before. He has been brutalized, shamed, flogged by the Giant of humans in Berkane team. We have done well in the local setting but we have not invested to compete at these level. We get excited about the money – other teams want the fame that comes with it. Gor has become the gate from which superstars walk through and get saved from poverty. We all must mature now and move on. Kogalo is still strong. We must believe in ourselves and the team. When I read some of the feedback here, I see bloggers who are now ready to move on objectively. I am seeing acceptance and repentance. I can see some denying Gor. I can see Thomases who cannot believe what happened on Sunday. We must still believe in Gor after the thorough beating. I can see some people asking for the release of coach, other release of the official, others release of the players. Pilato will give you whoever you want to crucify but if you decide to kill GOR, the blood of K’ogalo will be in your hands. Stand up and be counted.
The EC may have their undoings but we also need to play our role as fans. Gor Mahia has a huge constituency; membership alone would raise lots of cash. When you watch matches involving Simba and Yanga, you will notice that attendance is far much better than what happens here. What do we do to ensure high attendance of matches? Food for thought. Measures must be put in place to ensure only fans who pay for the tickets gain entry into the stadiums. And above all, the gate collections must be properly accounted for by the EC. Membership drives and high turnout in stadiums with fidelity in tickets management are just but a few strategies that Kogalo can use to raise revenue. It sickens to see players on go-slows a day before a crucial match. Let us use the loss to Berkane as a wake up call to put our house in order.
I think the best thing that will happen is when we overhaul our constitution. Currently we have a bloated EC in which some members are pulling at different directions, the asst dept SG issues instructions yet we have an SG,some officials just brought activism into the office, the Chair sounds tired, our potential ‘future-Chairman’ is caught in a scam, fans get exited at nothing and hurl stones at a high-profile match etc etc.
The good thing is that our opponents are still far-much behind to take advantage of our miseries, but for how long?
I pray and hope that the better days are in the future, afterall we set the standards/records for other teams to follow
Some rotten apples should be weeded out if this squad…shakava should be demoted as the captain..he’s such a brainless fellow…he can’t give the team any direction…in 2015 when we won the league unbeaten we didn’t even have a sponsor…but the boys were focused..i feel disgusted…why choose such a high profile match to start a go slow…this players are ambitionless and immature…even harambee stars coach misses his salary regularly but he’s focussed…oliech signing was a useless decision Nkt