Bandari sack Coach Mutua

Bandari FC’s technical bench of (from left) coach Douglas Mutua, Wycliffe Anyangu (assistant coach), Mohammed “Tostao” Nazzir (team manager) and George “Fundi” Onyango (assistant coach) during their 5-0 thrashing by Tusker FC in Nairobi last weekend. The entire bench has been sacked by the club’s parent company, Kenya Ports Authority. Photo/MOHAMMED AMIN/NATION MEDIA GROUP

BY PHILIP ONYANGO/NATION MEDIA GROUP
Following a string of poor results, the management of Bandari FC has finally cracked the whip by sacking its entire technical bench.

Team captain Ali Briek takes over as player-cum-interim coach after club chairman Jane Kamau on Tuesday gave the marching orders to head coach Douglas Mutua and his assistants, Wycliffe Anyangu and George “Fundi” Onyango.

Mohammed “Tostao” Nazzir will, however, stay on as team manager for the remaining two matches.

When reached by the Daily Nation on Tuesday, the affected officials declined to comment on the issue, with Mutua only confirming that they were back at work at the club’s parent company, Kenya Ports Authority, where company policy does not allow them to make statements to the Press.

Bandari, who only last weekend were handed a 5-0 demolition by Tusker, will host Ulinzi on May 23rd.

Kamau did not mince her words while making the sackings public on Tuesday: “Enough is enough. We could not just sit back as the team continued to lose matches, reflecting very negatively on the image of the corporation.”

She added that drastic changes would be made in the company’s sports department.

Discipline is paramount in any sport, she noted while wondering how players were expected to be disciplined when the officials were not.

Bandari players had demanded the immediate removal of the bench and the sports office during a two-hour closed-door meeting with senior KPA managers Salim Chingabwe and Jane Kamau at the firm’s Mbaraki Sports Club last Wednesday, alleging the bench was not up to the task and held it responsible for the poor results.

Brothels

Mutua, Anyangu, Onyango and Nazzir were all locked out of the meeting, as was the recently appointed KPA welfare and sports officials whom the players now want removed.

“We have been taking the blame whenever we lose matches but people just do not know what we go through as players, especially when playing away from home,” a senior player, who declined to be named, said.

“Some of us are Muslims, and being accommodated in lodgings which can be equated to brothels is an abuse to our fundamental rights.”

“These official get as much as Sh25,000 for a weekend league match while we, who do the actual playing, get as little as Sh3,000,” another player said. The players called for harmonisation of allowances, claiming theirs have been cut by half.

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