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courtesy of the Nation<\/p>\n
No sooner had Gor Mahia won the league title and followed it up with rather chaotic celebrations (by hooligans, not real Gor fans) last season than a period of anxiety and nail-biting set in as the club elections loomed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The campaigns were protracted and at times very bitter. In the end, some won and some lost and the political climate cooled off a bit. The first duty of the elected officials was to ensure that K\u2019Ogalo<\/em> honoured their African Champions League preliminary round ties.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The first team to come calling was US Bitam and Gor had to fork out Sh4 million to pay for hotel accommodation in Nairobi for them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Gor also paid for the air tickets, accommodation and allowances of the five visiting match officials. This was strange and the K\u2019Ogalo <\/em>chairman Ambrose Rachier said as much: \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 organisation but here we are.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Caf, of course, organises the competition and does not wish to spend a cent on it. Furthermore, Gor spent some Sh2.3 million on air tickets to travel to Bitam in Gabon for the return leg. Now the team needs Sh15 million urgently to enable them honour their matches against Esperance de Tunis in the Champions League first round.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n SPONSORSHIP PUZZLE<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Worryingly, the Sh18.5m a year Tuzo sponsorship comes to an end in March. Perhaps due to the stresses of election campaigns, the office must have forgotten to source for another sponsor or negotiate a renewal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The chairman made it sound like a bolt from the blue: \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<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Notice that they have \u201calmost officially…\u201d been informed. Thus it is not official but just \u201calmost official\u201d which means nothing at all. No new sponsor has come forth to sponsor K\u2019Ogalo<\/em>, leaving many things are at stake.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n There may be no money to pay players\u2019 salaries and allowance or to travel to the match venues. There are some who have always whined that Gor fans can take care of the team; let them come forth and show us how they will do it now.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The winners are those hooligans who never pay any gate charges but just troop in forcefully. A way must found soon for the club to gain financial stability.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t \n\t\t\t <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t