Yet again Rachier promises a stadium
Newly re-elected Gor Mahia chairman Ambrose Rachier is promising once again to build a stadium on the land that the club owns at Kasarani. This is a promise he makes before and after every election
Additional reporting from the Nation
Was the re-election of long-serving Gor Mahia Chairman Ambrose Rachier last Saturday a new dawn for the club or the status quo remains?
This is the question many fans are asking. They doubt Rachier’s ability to achieve much in the next four years having done very little for the past 11 years he has been at the helm.
The veteran lawyer has renewed his promise to build a stadium on K’Ogalo’s 15 acres in Kasarani, as well as a new apartment for housing players.
He has also promised fans that the club would win a continental title before he exits the scene.
Rachier has been Gor’s boss since 2008 when he took over from Erastus Okul in a smooth transition at City Stadium.
He said that he wants to surpass the record of former Chairman Douglas Oyieng’ Odola, who was in charge when Gor won the prestigious Mandela Cup in 1987.
Olang’ is the brother in-law of the late Foreign Affairs Minister, Robert Ouko who helped Gor Mahia retain its name when former President Daniel arap Moi had instructed community clubs to drop their tribal names in 1984.
“I want to build Gor Mahia a modern stadium at Kasarani and help the team win either the Caf Confederation Cup or Caf Champions League or even both. I promised to achieve this and leave,” Rachier told Nation Sport from his home in Gem, Siaya County.
He plans to build the stadium on the land donated by the late President Moi after winning the Mandela Cup.
Despite winning the Kenyan Premier League 17 times and other domestic accolades, there are mixed feelings about Rachier’s performance during his long tenure.
Compared to some of his predecessors who served in the 70s and 80s for a shorter duration compared to his, Rachier’s critics thinks that he has fallen short.
When Gor was formed in 1968, its first Chairman, Zack Ramogo led the club to their maiden Kenyan Premier League glory. In 1976, under the then Chairman, Peter Anyumba, K’Ogalo won the league title unbeaten for the first time in its history.
Last Cecafa title
The run of impressive results continued in 1979 under the chairmanship of David Opar when Gor reached the final of the Caf Winners Cup for the first time after beating Guinean giants Horoya 3-0 in a two-legged match.
Gor eventually lost in the final to Sportiff Canon Younde of Cameroon.
In 1980, the Green Army clinched the Cecafa Club Championship after beating AFC Leopards 3-2 in Blantyre, Malawi.
K’Ogalo retained the trophy in 1981, beating Simba SC of Tanzania 1-0 at City Stadium.
The club last won the Cecafa title in 1985. The then Chairman, Zack Mbori, led the club to the Cecafa victories in 1980, 81 and 85.
Under Rachier’s watch, Gor has only managed to reach the Confederation Cup quarter-finals in 2018. The team has always been eliminated in preliminary and group stages of the Caf competition and has never won the Cecafa Cup, only coming second to Azam in the 2015 edition.
Considering football has evolved due to multiple sponsorships which didn’t exist in past, K’Ogalo supporters are of the opinion that Gor should have made a great step in building its brand.
Currently, the club is in dire financial straits and it is losing key players to local rivals and in the region.
Economic initiatives started in the past to help the club become self-supporting have fallen through due to infighting and sabotage.
Rachier, 70, has said they are tired of renting apartments for their foreign players who are often harassment when there is no cash to pay rent. He said a case in point is that of Ghanaian midfielder Jackson Owusu three months ago at Jimlizer Hotel in Buruburu.
Rachier, fondly known as “ADOR” (the acronym of his name), by K’Ogalo fans, made an about turn after promising to leave office by December last year.
“What I’m saying is I won’t offer myself for re-election in the next polls. I estimate that we will need another six months to put everything in place and by December, we should hold polls,” he said in May last year.
However, Rachier said he changed his mind after SportPesa withdrew its sponsorship and the club started experiencing turbulent times.
Rachier said he did this because people would have judged him harshly for leaving a sinking ship despite doing his best for the club all the times.
He also specified that he could not build the stadium and achieve other things because of the politics at the club.
“I always take personal responsibility for failure of Gor Mahia and I want to transform it from a community club to a self-reliant entity. I have worked with some officials whose interest is to take the club backwards then blame me. There have been many economic initiatives to help the club benefit before, but they have fallen off because of silent wars.
This time it will be different,” he said.
His aim is now to recruit over 100,000 fans who can subscribe to the Sh100 monthly payment or the normal Sh1200 annual payment to help the club have a heavy financial base.
This will ensure the club sustains itself and compliment the money from the sponsors.
He also dismissed the accusation that he has held on to power for so long because the club generates a lot of money, which is always misappropriated by him and other club officials.
“I think the issue of money is what has been used to derail the progress of this great team. Where is the money at Gor Mahia? If we have over 100,000 fans then the question of misappropriation should arise. These are works of a few officials who are just tarnishing my name. However this time I have to deliver through all means.”
Nevertheless, he promised to work hand in hand with new Secretary General Sam Ochola, veteran Vice Chairman Francis Wasuna and honorary treasurer Dolphina Odhiambo to achieve his dreams before exiting.
@Joe Riaga , you rightly point out that Gor Mahia should not be losing players to the likes of Wazito , Simba , Nkana etc and I want to escalate my agreement with you by adding the fact that 50plus years after our formation , being that we have won some of the biggest tournaments in the region and the continent at large , Gor should not lose players even to TP Mazembe , K Chiefs , Zemalek etc because those/most of these clubs were our peers in the Abbas Magongo , Allan Thigo , Sammy Owino kempes , Oluoch era and the context of my post is what changed .
My post was wholesale , your rebuttal was retail e.g when you posit that Gor should not be losing players to e.g Wazito because of non payment of salaries running to 5months , ofcourse they shouldn’t , but of course they will , when I suggest that the inability of the EC to adapt to the new reality , the transactional and unsustainable wage structure and the failure to maximise the hundreds of millions that lie idle in its latent potential is the reason for our stunted and reverse growth -that is why players will leave to the likes of Wazito and yet potentially we are richer than Wazito .
My take was , and using examples that I used , was running for expensive average players outside kenya , then failing to pay and motivate them is what ails as and drives the expensive exports away at great lose to us , repeating this over and over is what becomes a vicious cycle .
Do away with all these expensive players now that you have done away with that bloated expensive office , change the recruitment trajectory and have a short , mid and long term plans .
I have said this before and I repeat , from whence the Allan Thigos , Lules , Kempes came from , many more abound , just spend money you save from the unsustainable salaries and go look for them , didnt one Reinhard Fabish come up with players nobody knew existed .
A changed mindset in the EC is automatically a gain of Millions of shillings .
@ Ja Sofaset
Fabisch never won anything in his second stint. He never even qualified for AFCON or even won CECAFA. He is a good example of why you cant win with inexperienced players. Fabisch only did well in 1987 when he had very experienced players.
I refuse to use Fabisch as an example. Depending on local players is not an option if you want to succeed in Africa. You will not even win the league if you depend on local players. Thats what the club tried in 2012 and 2010 and lost due to inexperience/
Kogalo need to sign the Kageres and Tuyisenges and Auchos in order to bolster the team if they hope to do well in Africa.
The point you missed in the article is as follows: Due to bad management, the club is not maximizing the numerous revenue streams available. This is what Simba Sports is doing. Thats why when Kagere goes to Simba, he stays. When he came to Kogallo, he left after one year. Came back again and left after one year. This is not a recipe for success.
In the 1980s, players were retained by getting them jobs at parastatals. Today in 2020, players can be retained if the club adopts accountability and transparency and pursues the various revenue streams available: Gor Mahia bread, Gor Mahia water, Gor Mahia sanitizer, Gor Mahia masks etc. The only person making money from merchandize is the officials and some fans.
Then there is the issue of increasing membership from the current 500 which is the lowest the club has ever had
We must learn to work around Rachier.
1) Before embarking on grandiose projects like building a stadium and apartments can he resolve the issue of the BUS REPAIRS.
2) The stadium and apartments seem like money mobilization projects to justify the recruitment of 100,000 members @ 100bob.
This will net Rachier kes.10m monthly.
You need a qualified and experienced accountant for proper management of these projects but one can “wisely” campaign for an unqualified one whom you can manipulate.
Dolfina is an aggressive fundraiser, now you know why ADOR needs her, it is to raise funds not to account for them.
In fact these 2 projects remind me of Kisumu Molasses and Luo Thrift Company saga that were guided as community initiatives only to end up being owned by a few individuals.
Also many county governments are building stadia, Kisumu, Saiya, Mombasa and Nairobi with 3- Kasarani, Nyayo and Dandora.
A functional training ground is however important.
3) I support ADOR’s target of conquering Africa. In fact he should elevate it to no.1.
If EC pays its players and TB salaries on time then they will have no problems paying their rents. Note players may not even want to stay in the same place just like employees of many organisations.
That said I support Rachier 101% on the objective of conquering Africa and am willingly to contribute towards this goal.
*guised not guided.
P.S as regards building a stadium and apartments I will not contribute a cent especially when the Hon. treasurer is totally unqualified for the job.
@Charles, you should work with the team in the office. You may not like the treasurer for the reasons you have stated but she is the one in that office for now/the next 4 years by the virtue of having been elected by the majority members. If you take the action you have stated which is your democratic right, it is the club you will be punishing but not her. Democracy is all about the “majority having their way and the minority having their say”. You have been heard.
Rachier will do all within his power to remain Gor Mahia with his cronies until he has made his “commission” from the club. The only way he can maximize his commission is to build a stadium and apartments.
He would rather embark on construction rather the ensure that he retains and pays his players and TB.
Furthermore more he can’t build in 4 years so he will ensure he extends his stay beyond this term, sports act permitting.
Dolfina was elected by the thousands of Chris’ s supporters who never turned out to vote because they didnt turn out to register as members for reasons that on the surface look beautiful but substantially short sighted and as much as missiles may be thrown at the winners , the bigger problem are the ones who refuse to relevantly engage making them part of the problem and irrelevant in pursuit of the solutions they eloquently put out there .
I too disagree with this issue of Stadium because its more cost effective financially to have a one stop training ground instead , because all over the world , things like stadiums with a few exceptions is the responsibility of the goverment .
Lastly if one choses to disengage from associating with Gor coz one has an issue with some individual/s , the loser is the club and not the individuals and in any case , as per the constitution that was enacted by the same members who had the foresight to register , all the contestants met all the considerations that constitution demanded , anything over and above that is for individual consumption and like Obama says over and over -Dont Shout , VOTE .
My angle is different. Let’s sort ourselves out where it matters most.. On the pitch. If we do well there, every thing else will certainly fall into place.
The issue of a stadium and housing project is a long term project that requires a lot of astute planning and finances to achieve.
Let’s get the incoming sponsor on board first. Sort out our playing unit and TB then bid our time as we restructure the club away from the pitch!! Success follows success. We might be lucky to get other sponsors as we soldier on.
I agree with oswozo moziek here. We have good visions for the future. However lots of work needs to be put into place to see it through. I have noticed someone here sounding like a rachier puppet. We are passed campaigns now and he is back in office. Let’s now support all the incumbents on their ambitions to drive the club forward without belittling so and so. Praise and worship is a preserve of the almighty only without whom we would not be where we are now!!
I very clearly said I support Rachier on his vision no.3 which should be the club’s no.1 vision. I copy paste my quote:
“That said I support Rachier 101% on the objective of conquering Africa and am willing to contribute towards this goal.”
If you elected a competent professional accountant he/she can easily ringfence the funds meant for the various projects.
Have designated accounts for:
1) The stadium project
2) The apartments project
3) The conquering Africa project (main team)
4) The youth team.
That way funds raised for one project cannot be diverted to another project. However expect a total mixture and confusing of funds with non accountant in charge of GMFC’s treasury.
CHOICES HAVE CONSEQUENCES if in doubt refer to county 001.
That said let’s give the new office a chance with time it will be clear why Rachier endorsed a non professional over a professional.
Like others have rightful pointed out players and TB of the main team are the priority.
@ Charles you must learn to plant your seeds with the available rain, dont wait for a better raining season . the current treasurer is the office Holder and nothing you will do about it. support the lady this a community club .
Now that Gor elections are over, members of the club should put their energy to assist the officials think positively and act as per their promises. The truth is that an individual performance is not necessarily a reflection of the professional background, otherwise Michael Joseph would not be a successful CEO in Safaricom. Let us not waste time politicking at the same time we are aware of the need of money to support the club. It is unfortunate that we come from genealogy of politics to the extent that we even question why we were born without clothes.
Let us help Rachier team work. Let the people who think they are brainy use their energy in supporting Gor with money and positive ideas.
Can we emulate the spirit of GMAF initiative that are allergic to politics as far as Gor is concerned and instead concentrate on modalities to salvage the team from the present situation. And instead of fighting over team’s leadership, why not start the prototype of GMAF and organise it as per your expectations and beliefs , your leadership ego will be satisfactorily met there. Politicians form their parties to see the Kenya they want if there is heat in their original parties. Gor is like Kenya to us any apolitical group formed to support it will be appreciated. Siasa mingi ya nini. Lete pesa to jenge team.