\u00a0Away from the pomp and colour that greeted Gor Mahia on their arrival at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, from Gabon, it has now emerged that the former African champions are cash strapped. Details of the club struggling with their finances after their current sponsors Brookside Dairies, through the Tuzo brand, went silent on their 2014 campaign, are no longer a secret with club officials running circles around town in search of a quick fix. \u201cWe have almost officially been informed that the current sponsors will not renew their sponsorship when it expires on March 31. For that reason, we are already looking for sponsors and are appealing to the corporate world or well-wishers who are willing to come to our aid,\u201d Gor Chairman, Ambrose Rachier said. Rachier added the club is grappling to meet simple logistical challenges even before their first league match. Huge budget \u201cThe 2014 season requires a huge budget not only for the payment of players\u2019 salaries, but also for the Confederation of African Football\u2019s (Caf) Champions League which is a very expensive campaign. \u201cWe urgently need a sponsor.<\/div>\n
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At the moment, we need Sh15 million to honour the forthcoming Caf fixtures. We are already running into huge amounts of debt incurred at the just-concluded preliminaries against US Bitam.\u201d According Rachier, who also doubles up as the KPL chair, the club spent Sh2.3 million on air tickets to Libreville, hotel accommodation in Nairobi for the visiting West Africans cost Sh4million and then more money was spent on paying allowances for the five match officials, their air tickets and accommodation. \u201cI find this fairly strange that we have to foot all the bills for the centre referee, two assistants, fourth official and the match commissioner to officiate here. I thought this should be the responsibility of another organization but here we are, we need Sh8 million to honour both matches against Tunisia\u2019s Esperance.\u201d The club\u2019s kit sponsors have since January not been categorical on their contractual obligations and efforts to get a comment from Brookside Dairies bore no fruit as calls to the company\u2019s Public Relations Officer went unanswered days after he had promised to call back to clarify the matter. FeverPitch has established that Gor presently spend at least Sh1million a week in running their day-to-day activities.<\/div>\n
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The cash crunch has seen the club receive support from Nairobi Senator, Hon Mike Mbuvi Sonko who gave the team Sh800 000 \u2018to help offset\u2019 urgent expenses. Sonko hosted the players to a dinner at a Nairobi hotel and said, \u201cI thank Gor for representing Kenya on the continental stage and reward the players for their excellent work. I have talked to Sports Minister Wario and I am calling upon other leaders to come on board and help uplift our boys.\u201d \u201cWe were almost robbed of our victory. The officiating was pathetic with dubious calls made by the referee. It was hell,\u201d said team coach Bobby Williamson.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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