Sinisa Mihic: Another Brief Stint
Croatian Sinisa Mihic took charge of the Gor Mahia technical bench in February of 2025. He was hired on a six month contract to replace Brazilian Leonardo Neivas. His tenure was marred by infighting between him and the rest of the technical bench, specifically the assistant coaches Zedekiah Otieno and Michael Nam.
Matters came to a head when Mihic reportedly expelled the two coaches alongside team manager Victor Nyaoro, who is a long-serving member of the record Kenyan champions, from the team’s training session before their league fixture against KCB at Kenyatta Stadium in Machakos.
Mihic took over at a time when the team was already recording sub par results which resulted in the previous coach Leonardo Neivas being fired. His results were slightly better than his predecessor but not enough to enable Gor Mahia to wrest the title from league leaders Kenya Police.
There were also questions about his style of play, his ability to control the dressing room and fielding decisions.
“It is clear that Sinisa (Mihic) had lost the dressing room, he didn’t have a good plan for the team,“ an official told source told Flashscore.com
“His fielding of matchday squads was questionable, he could leave the best players on the bench and could not be questioned. The fact that he could want to make trial and errors in the squad is something that the club could not chew anymore.“
“Many Gor Mahia fans were left wondering how and why he could consistently bench players they believed should have been in the starting eleven.
“His style of play wasn’t good enough to fit the style of the champions, he always insisted on a system (3-5-2) that clearly wasn’t effective and made a number of players look bad, and the team struggled with that system.”
Mihic later explained his actions: “There is no way I’m going to work with them because I can’t be blackmailed.”
“These are people I’ve tried to work with – I even lent them money. I’ve also used my own resources to support some of our activities out of goodwill. Why are they sabotaging and fighting me?”
He added: “I can’t allow influence to dictate my decisions. I won’t field players who fail to follow instructions. In fact, some Kenyan players are performing better than the foreigners I’m being pressured to play.”
“I’ve served as an assistant coach at various clubs, but I’ve never witnessed or exhibited the kind of conduct I’m seeing from some of my colleagues. It’s unacceptable.”
Matters came to a head when the team drew 0-0 with Muranga Seal, basically ending Gor Mahia’s league title aspirations. His tenure ended in May 2025
“Gor Mahia wishes to announce that we have mutually agreed to part ways with head coach Sinisa Mihic,” read part of the statement from the club. “We thank coach Mihic for his service and commitment during his time with us and wish him the very best in his future endeavours.” said the statement from the club portal.
The club went further to confirm that assistant coaches Zedekiah ‘Zico’ Otieno and Michael Nam, who worked under Mihic, had been promoted to take charge of the team on a temporary basis until the end of the season.
Fans were left bewildered, wondering why the club had promoted the two people whom the coach had accused of sabotage.
