There is trouble at Tusker. The empire is crumbling. The rot may have started ages ago but this is the culmination of a crisis long sugar coated.
As much as their followers may want to believe all is well and that their fancied team’s dark patch will slither away, the reigning Kenya champions are in dire straits.
If the current trend is anything to go by, the Ruaraka based side is in for a bumpy 2017 ride, a forced rollercoaster of sorts.
SIMMERING ROW
They won a rare double last season, the Sportpesa Premier League and the GOtv Shield, under the tutelage of much travelled Ugandan Paul Nkata.
They did it without a really convincing perfomance to stake their claim. Their march towards both titles was glaringly wobbly with only old nemesis Gor Mahia’s uncharacteristic ineptitude keeping them at the summit.
But where did the rain start beating the side formely called Kenya Breweries?
The dust had barely settled on celebrations before Nkata decamped to Bandari at the close of the season.
When prompted why he made the move to Mombasa with African Champions’ League football beckoning, the wily tactician retorted it was informed by “package and remuneration”.
“As a foreign coach I came to Kenya to make money and any bidder that comes with the highest offer is sure to attract my attention”, he famously quipped. For a club that is considered wealthy within local circles, that was considered a coded message.
At the start of the current season, utility player and experienced Osborne Monday announced he was leaving for less colorful Kariobangi Sharks over stalled contract negotiations.
Then emerged voices of disquiet amongst their ranks that player motivation was at an all time low even as top management, in their usual modus operandi, went overdrive to dispel the simmering undercurrents.
Still, the top hierachy drew blanks and either by design or default failed to take notice. The stubborn narrative was hastily swept under the carpet as the champions continued to limber up for the new season.
George ‘Best’ Nsimbe took over the reigns from fellow countryman Nkata with much gusto.
He arrived at a time the team was sitting pretty at the apex, the perfomance bar at its highest. Sadly for him, when at the top the only other way is down, and Tusker is hurtling down, like a misguided rocket.
They exited the continental scene ignominiously at the first hurdle, at the hands of a less touted side from the tiny Indian Ocean island of Mauritius.
Alarm bells were ringing but again no soul took notice. With that African distraction taken care of, many expected them to return to Kenya breathing fire and brimstone, and run roughshod over the premier league; wrong presumption. They were meeker than lambs.
Lest it be forgotten, the team maintained its core unit besides making a few additions to the squad.
When they eventually filed out to kick start their campaign, they had only one thing in mind, redemption.
Debutants Nzoia Sugar walloped the champions 5-2, outplaying them in virtually all departments. Maybe they were suffering from post continental football trauma, or so they consoled themselves.
Before that sunk in, they went down 2-0 against Thika United in their second outing.
PANDORA’s BOX
In hindsight, perhaps the issues that their top management fought so brazenly to keep tightly sealed have somewhat found their way out.
The Pandora’s box is open and they appear clueless how best and fast to reseal it.
Public opinion now heavily suggests they have to face the inevitable autopsy if ills bedevelling the giants have to be tackled.It is crunch time for Tusker.
