By Fredrick Nadulli aka Razor,
When coach Adel Amrouche’s conduct was put under severe scrutiny and he was eventually found guilty of bringing the game into disrepute,repercussions were imminent.The proverbial sword of damocles was hanging over his head and when it came down,he was handed a lengthy ban.It was a case of when and not if.Not that the Harambee Stars would have missed him anyway.The team had been knocked out of all meaningful qualifiers for the foreseeable future.
Here was a man who had elicited passion and courted controversy in equal measure.He won Kenya the Challenge cup after an eleven year hiatus.He also stepped on too many toes in his short stint.The powers that be were getting hot under the collar and he had to go.The CAF ban provided a perfect opportunity for FKF to get rid of him.And jump at the chance they did.
With his sack went the work he had started.There were mixed feelings across the football divide,but with Kenyans’ “selective amnesia”,the issue was soon relegated to the backbanner.
Initially there was hue and cry for the government to wield the big stick and send the FKF packing.That would have meant atleast a two year FIFA international ban.Public opinion heavily suggested the country needed such a drastic measure as remedy for our maladministration.It never came to pass and the regime stayed put.
ENTER A FAMILIAR SCOT
Gor Mahia coach Bobby Williamson was hired and entrusted to begin the rebuilding process the country has so become accustomed to.With him came two former internationals Musa Otieno and Simeon Mulama as assistant coach and team manager respectively.
Bobby’s CV speaks volumes as far as East and Central African football is concerned.He enjoyed relative success at the helm of the Uganda Cranes and took them to the brink of Nations’ cup qualification.He decamped to Gor Mahia and led them to premier league success barely five months into the job.He has proven to be a fine man-manager.Naturally,FKF wouldnt need cast their net wider in search of their man.He was right here.
Musa Otieno,his deputy,is a man who knows Kenyan football like the back of his hand.He was captain for thirteen years and belongs to the elite club of selected internationals who have a century of caps under their belts.He has been in the set-up long enough to know what needs a spruce-up.With his vast wealth of experience he is best placed to sanitise the system from within.Having only retired recently,he knows the rigours and demands of the modern game.
Simeon Mulama joins in his capacity as team manager.A fine midfielder in his day,he brings with him knowledge as a former professional.An alumnus of the Parks university in Missouri,he is in a growing list of modern sports personalities who combine games and academics.He is an asset to the new team.
THE ADMINISTRATION
Following the new developments,sceptics were quick to dismiss the appointments as cosmetic and diversionary.True,FKF have often times let the country down,but this new team,given goodwill,support and time,looks set to deliver.Musa and Mulama may have accepted their new positions contrary to the expectation of many owing to the rot at the FKF hierarchy,but theyre better placed cleaning up from the inside.
This team must come up with a fine blueprint for Kenyan football.
Stakeholders on their part must accord them all the necessary support they may stand in need.Kenya is tired of going back to square one.They have the unenviable task of putting the country back on the football map.
Notedly,their first task has been promising,taking a youthful,inexperienced side to Egypt for an invitational friendly.What they must bear in mind is that FKF wont change their modus operandi anytime soon.
Its business as usual.Let them expect very little from the national office and instead focus more on coming up with a formidable team with the scant resources at their disposal.In two years we should be able to come up with a progress report.
Time is the master.
N/B Fredrick Nadulli aka Razor is a former Kenyan International and Mathare United player.
