Gor Mahia to receive trophy on Sunday
courtesy of goal.com
or Mahia will receive the 2013 Kenya Premier League trophy on Sunday at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, after their match against KCB
Kenyan Premier League (KPL) champions Gor Mahia will be awarded the winning trophy on Sunday at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani.
The team will be feted during their match against KCB after KPL changed the date from end of season to this weekend.
KPL Chief Executive Jack Oguda had initially indicated that they want to present the trophy on the last day of the season when Gor Mahia plays Ulinzi at Afraha Stadium in Nakuru but this was changed at the request of the winners.
Gor Mahia Secretary General George Bwana says while they are happy with the new development they would have preferred to get the trophy on Saturday so as to give as many of their fans as possible an opportunity to be part of the ceremony.
“We are talking to KPL to see if they can change the date. Our fans will be travelling from all over and so Saturday is a good day to enable them travel back to their destinations,” Bwana told Goal.
Meanwhile, Gor Mahia goalie Jerim Onyango is looking forward to lifting the title after 18 years of waiting. Last year, Onyango had a chance to lift the title, but his first half howler gifted Thika United a goal that would prove vital in stopping Gor Mahia’s ambition.
However, this year, K’Ogalo has won it tidy and early and the man, who shed tears at City Stadium, last year, will cry no more. “I feel very excited to be among the history makers for Gor Mahia. I will be the first captain in 18 years to lift the league title for Gor Mahia. It is more than a privilledge for me.
“We have been the most consistent team this season and I believe we deserve the title. The players have worked very hard in every single game even when we are seemingly losing gas. The management has taken care of us well and the fans have been with us from the start to finish.
“I want to thank everyone for this achievement because it is collective effort and also call on all Gor Mahia fans to come out in large numbers on Sunday to witness us lifting the league title. As they say it, it will be a state function.”
Ideally the title shld b handed over on Sato at our last home game vs KCB. Oguda may b rightfully worried abt the capacity 2 contain the “human waste”
Probably Bwana & Co. r insisting on Sato coz the lure of making a killing is too much & overrides all other concerns.
Charges will probably b a high 300 so that operation entry @ 100bob cn go on.
EC y not charge 150bob & get ksh.4.5-6M frm 30-40k fans as Kasarani is a 60K seater stadium. Ama contrary 2 Bwana’s assertion GM haina that many fans yet
Oduor12 i do not agree that the gate fees should come down it should be made standard compare across the region what is charged like how much Yanga,sports villa,ingwe,simba, Azam,TP Mazembe etc charges then go that way.
We cannot charge the way we feel we should do it the way our peers do it across the region but Oduori i stand corrected babba.
As we lifthe cup this weekend we can also try to break the record of surpassing the 60 points make which has not been done since the Premier league was started like five years ago.
Why are we so bothered about the saturday/sunday dte yet we don’t have to wait for that day to start celebrating. G. Bwana and Kilo should know that if they ‘push’ everyone Oguda and co can as well hand over the trophy to them at the KPL offices.
Let the trophy celebration be an occasion befitting gor but not a confused and shambolic occasion which can even turn out to be a safety and security nightmare to all and sundry.
Let our fans humble themselves on that day and give the organisers as well as the players to space and time to participate in the celebration as that is their day to enjoy as well. At least after the ceremony those who want to pour into the fielsd can do so but in an orderly manner. I hate to imagine a disorganised ceremony where nothing goes according to plan. I’m even worried if it’s our EC trying to organise a celebration. From what I know about them their strengths lie somewhere else but not in organising an organised function of more than 1000 people
Kudos to Mwakio for insightful article.
With Mwakio permission, I have copied this article below for fans, bloggers, TB and EC to read this posting.
How to build a winning team in 2014 and beyond
Who is your Rooney? Who is your Drogba? Who is your Messi? Who is your Neymar? Who scores your goals? Who controls the game? How you manage them and bring out their best?
Over the years we have found questions like these to be really useful in helping Football clubs leaders (with an interest in the beautiful game) to manage their teams more effectively. Getting a football manager to think of themselves as Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger or Pep Guardiola can help people frame their management in a different and possibly more productive way.
In our KPL this year let’s use this football theory and see what we can learn about management of football in Kenya. This Note highlights my starting eleven tips:
1. Focus on the field
2. Manage your players
3. Recruit a balanced playing squad
4. Concentrate on training
5. Bring out the best in your players
6. Get them to play together as a team
7. Set a style of play
8. Work out flexible tactics and formation
9. Rigorously review performance
10. Keep the score
11. Earn respect, instill pride and create meaning
1. Focus on the field
In football it is obvious that what really matters is what happens in the field, not in the office. Football managers or officials should also remember that the match takes place on the pitch. Managers are overwhelmed with seemingly pressures to win matches day in day out. Yet what really matters is what happens out there. We must shift the focus of our attention to the field – to the actual interactions with players, with fans, with other stakeholders. This is where development occurs. Players who make a difference are the disciplined players, the ones who are willing to learn in training and improve in all matters of football both in and out of the field. These should be the focus of attention in a football team. Everyone else is back room staff. The football club should be structured to support this critical interface with all stakeholders.
2. Manage your players, do not play yourself
A football manager’s role is to get the best out of the players, not try and play themselves. There are very few examples of successful player-managers. We would think it ridiculous if Alex Ferguson kept running on to the pitch and taking the ball from his own players to do it for them. No, the manager has to let the players play. Managers are not meant to be great players. In fact the best managers tend to have been average, rather than world class players. Management is a very different skill to playing. It requires skill and insight which may need specific training. It is for good reason that all managers in the KPL must now have a Coaching Certificate.
3. Recruit a balanced playing squad
In football it helps to have a squad which blends experience and youth. When looking to recruit players, football teams do not advertise and interview – they scout for the best players elsewhere. They persuade them to leave their current job and join them. Or many have youth academies to develop young players into possible professionals. They often give youngsters experience gradually on the pitch as substitutes before putting them in the starting line up. But the way some of the richer clubs are able to sign the best players from smaller teams by paying transfer fee.
4. Concentrate on training
In football players probably spend more than 90% of their time training and preparing for a game. Coaches constantly work with players on individual skills, team moves, strategies and fitness. How will we defend against set pieces? How will we attack on the break? Football managers spend hours investing in instilling ethics of discipline and hard work.
5. Bring out the best in your players
Who is it that really makes a difference in the field? Who is your Drogba? Your Ronaldo? Your Fabregas? Who scores the goals your organisation hopes to achieve? Who catalyses change in matches? Do you have a play-maker in your Team? Who is your holding midfielder? Who is your centre of defence? Who do people listen to and follow – your captain? Football managers are constantly trying to bring out the best in their players. Good managers give them freedom to play to their strengths. They encourage them to try things and not fear failure. They know their players’ best positions. Playing people out of position can lead to confusion and undermine confidence, resulting in poor individual and even team performance.
All members of a team are different. Players management is a key skill. What does this individual respond well to? Encouragement? Criticism? Pressure? Being left alone? How do you manage big egos? People management in football does not take place in the office. It is on the training ground, the dressing room, on the pitch – before, during and after the match. Being a good manager means being present and available to the players. How would it be if Arsene Wenger sat in his office all day at a computer screen or was continually in meetings?
6. Get them playing together as a team
A key to great football management is to get players to play together as a team. It would obviously be silly, however skilled they were, if one player just kept the ball to himself and refused to pass to his teammates. The challenge of football is to work together as a cohesive back four, to get players to link well with each other, to play in triangles and diamonds up the pitch, to support each other on overlaps. Players need to work hard for each other, making dummy runs and covering back. When Real Madrid was full of ‘Galáctico’ stars it tended to underachieve. Egypt has arguably been successful in the Africa Cup of Nations because of their ability to play well together against teams with more individual star players.
Obviously not all players are the same. Some are left footed, others right, some strikers, some defenders. Some play more spectacular roles, making the headlines by scoring goals. But equally important may be the unsung holding midfielder, who keeps everything ticking over by relentlessly tackling and setting things in motion with quick, short passes. Good football teams have a mixture of players. In the English Premiership, a key challenge is to work with different cultures – to meld them together into a unified team.
7. Set the style of play
Each manager has a favoured approach to football, an overall style of play. Arsene Wenger for example wants to play beautiful football, with quick movement up the field. Others want to squeeze and control the midfield. Others are happy with the long-ball game, scoring on the break. It is the manager’s role to instil the vision and train the team in the way they should play. This is something the team comes to understand, gets accustomed to and enables players to be more interchangeable.
7. Work out flexible tactics and formation
A good manager also knows each match is different. They analyse the context thoroughly, sizing up the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition. They also think about the specific situation. Playing home or away, playing in heat or at altitude, playing on a hard pitch or thick mud all affect the match tactics and formation. Your Team might have an overall vision and ethos, which you stay true to, but it should be applied differently in different contexts. Some matches are more important than others. Some are ‘must win’, for others a draw is fine; and still others you can probably afford to lose. For each game it is up to the manager to pick the best combination of players that they think will play to these tactics.
Good managers have a flexible game plan. If the game plan is not working, a good manager will have ‘Plan b’. They will change the tactics and the players midway through the game. What they do may be more important than what they say. How does the manager respond to a crisis of conceding a goal or even two? Is it just anger or blame, or do they do something practical about it?
8. Rigorously review performance
In football there is rigorous and regular performance assessment. They believe completely in action learning. Reviews are conducted after every match. Football teams invest considerable time and technology in thoroughly reviewing what happened after the event.
Videos are analysed in depth.
Statistics are collated on metres run, passes completed, tackles made… How much do our local managers regularly review performance? Do we make time to watch our players in action?
9. Keep the score
At least in football it is clear what the score is and what constitutes a goal. But in any game (or part of the season), managers may have a number of objectives. It may be about soaking up and surviving the pressure in the first half. It may be about testing out the opposition goalkeeper with shots on target. Managers will assess the team performance against a number of criteria. What are the goals? What are the tactics for the next match? A good manager then takes decisions based on performance. There may be man-of- the match awards to give out. Or player of the month. Alternatively poor performance means difficult decisions are made. If a footballer is not playing well, they are likely to get dropped from the team.
10. Earn respect, instil pride and create meaning
Good football managers all generate respect, if not even awe, from their players. They get on well, but managers are not ‘one of the lads’. They can be hard and harsh when necessary. Alex Ferguson plays to his ‘hairdryer’ image of giving hot blasts to his players, but only in rare and exceptional circumstances. Most professionals agree that being screamed at does little good. Much more frequently good managers build up players’ confidence. They show they have pride and faith in them. As Jose Mourinho says: ‘A good manager must make all his men feel big, not small’. This is superbly illustrated by Pep Guardiola before the 2009 Champions League final who said to his players: ‘Gentlemen, if you lose today you will continue to be the best in the world – but if you win today you will be eternal’. Barcelona went on to win.
Great managers are able to get their players to feel as if they are playing for the manager. They do not want to let them down. They know that if they do, they may pay the price in the short term. But they also know that if the team continues to underperform, the manager will eventually be sacked.
Good football managers use image and charisma to create meaning. Jose Mourinho came to Chelsea with a proven ability to win big trophies with lesser clubs. He brought and further crafted an image of being a winner (the self-styled ‘Special One’). This charisma and self- belief rubbed off on his players who proceeded to win the Premiership for the next two seasons. Mourinho motivates his players by manipulating meaning, creating the image of ‘it is us against the world’. What might this mean for local managers? Are we able to get our players playing for us as managers? How do we use our image to the greatest effect? How do we instil self-belief in our teams? How do we create meaning?
11. The final whistle
What other things does this football analogy teach you about management? How would Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Capello or Ancellotti approach our local teams?
Obviously all analogies break down at some point. They can be pushed too far. After all football, unlike relief and development, is not a matter of life and death (whatever Bill Shankly might think). Resources are obviously different. But it is valuable to learn about Football management from different disciplines. Playing with different analogies can help us think outside the box. This can unlock seemingly stuck situations. It obviously does not only have to be about football. The same analogy would work for any team sport like cricket, basketball, rugby or netball. But it certainly does not have to be just sport. Create an analogy from something you are passionate about or even just interested in. There are many good management analogies from jazz groups or orchestras or even dancing the Argentine tango.
Oh yes it is finally coming home. We are looking forward to the great day. On matters of the trophy and the last day, is it possible for the Trophy to be handed on the last day when we play Ulinzi if they could agree to come to Kasarani? Just a thought.
Its a MIRACLE…….Kasaya,who we were told was badly injured by Gor goons has recovered and takes his place between the posts for SoNy Vs Afc!!!!talk about peddling cheap lies to hoodwink the soccer fraternity!!!!
@ODUOR12,YES THEY ALWAYS MAKE A KILL BUT THIS ONE ACCORDING TO THE FIXTURES K.C.B WILL BE THE HOME TEAM THEREFORE THE GATE CHARGES ARE IN KCB JURISDICTION. WHATEVER THEY WILL DECIDE IS WHAT WILL BE PAID.
i once said that there is abank willing 2build stadium n hostells under agrement which Gm can with agd EC this deal is posible its jst amater of hvn title deed n w are done.
Kindly mr.Bwana wea is coachs car we contributed over 300000kshs of which i contributed 5000kshs at cityhall upto date we havent bn told what went wrong?
Then on sunday plse Ec we nd 2escort our team with aconvoy of not less than 100cars n buses wea do we meet n at what time.
The team cAn do an open bus tour of the city naext week. Can someone from the ec call me, i will volunteer my service). …..secondly, dear boby williamson, i hope by now your are a blogger…..pls seriously consider having jacob keli and michael olunga to your squad next season, this boys are class ahead others in the local leaague, they will give us mileagein the centreforward position
not all fans want the game to on sat,most guys go to work on satos esp in major towns.so let the game b on sunday plis…when the date of a game has to b changed,these guys need to know that most pple plan 4 these games weeks in advance and its unfair 4 someone just to wake up and change,without considering every circumstances