Timothy Ayieko succumbed to heart and kidney complications Sunday morning in Uganda.
In his hey days, he turned out for Gor Mahia in Kenya from 1979 to 1982 scoring 20 goals and Kampala’s KCCA among other teams.
He bagged the Kenyan Premier in his debut year under coach Jerry Imbo before winning the CECAFA Club Championships in 1980.
He also played for the Uganda Cranes and was the midfield kingpin when Uganda attained their best ever AFCON run –finishing runners-up in 1978.
Ayieko would later coach the Cranes in 1995 for a year.
Not many Gor fans of the current know him but a few who watched him in action have fond memories of him.
“There was a popular Luo song coined in his praise. Go well my brother,” Thomas Owuory commented on Facebook.
Dan Kwach said, “Very saddened about his death. I was privileged to watch him play at Gor Mahia when the club was a force to reckon with in CAF competitions.”
Former Gor midfielder James Goro Oronge recollects that Ayieko was a darling of the crowd.
“Every time he had the ball, the whole stadium would shout TIM! A stout player with accurate passes and very good shots at goal,”
“He was not a very hardworking player but was a joy to watch when on the ball,”
“He reminded me a bit of my father because of his weight but I would match him with Jack Aluko and Nyangi Odembo,” Goro said.
Ayieko was born in 1954 to John Njoga (RIP) and Hellen Anyango of Kisumu, Kenya.
At age three, his parents emigrated to Uganda and settled around Kampala’s biggest slum of Kisenyi.
He returned to Kenya along side Abbey Nassur in 1979 during Iddi Amin’s fascist rule to escape the political turmoil then and pursue football career.
Ayieko leaves behind eight children.
