COLUMNS
SITUMBEKO Saga:
More problems than FKF officials
The call to get rid of FKF leadership has been rising since the na-
tional team visited state house. Kenyan football has seen it all, and
our players have bore the brunt of poor football management. Come
to think of it, what would happen if Uhuru Kenyatta decides to pull
a Paul Kagame on Sam Nyamweya and Co? The whole team is summoned and given resignation letters to sign and the same is copied to
FIFA. Will the beautiful ones be born in the Kenyan beautiful game?
Gor Mahia has come out firing from all cylinders after Power Dynamo poured cold water on their pursuit of Zambia winger Julius
Situmbeko. This is one deal that was dead on arrival, even before the
player had agreed to talk to Gor, word was rife in social media that
he had agreed to put pen to paper. A Gor official was at hand to confirm the same on social media. Now Situmbeko is a conman, because
it is roumoured he pocketed KES. 300,000 as signing on fees before
he left for Zambia. Welcome to football made in Kenya.
It brought to mind several players who have been signed hurriedly
by KPL clubs, especially foreigners but failed to live up to expectations. They were forced to leave beyond expectations as soon as
the season closed. Florent Ndayisaba, Dan Wagaluka, Kasolo Mustaffa, Nyangor ‘Balotieno’ Otieno among others. No wonder one club
could even go ahead and sign a Brazilian with the hope that he can
turn into a footballer.
Just when CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup got underway, social media was hot with news that local clubs were chasing players. There
is definitely no problem with this, but the manner in which it was
done, can put off a player. Putting such information on social media
is self defeating. The two players from Burundi who were on the radar of some two clubs ended up signing for another KPL team. The
said team did not come out openly about their interest, but diligently
followed the due process.
We all have opinions about players and those with little or no technical expertise on football have the loudest opinion. When someone hovers around hotels
during CECAFA chatting with players in the name of scouting, exposes our
lack of sound football practice. I can bet these so called scouts have never had
an official stint in a club dressing room as a member of a club’s technical bench.
Our clubs don’t have scouts to follow and recommend players to be signed.
Players are signed and dropped like a joke. This is one area that hinders the
development of our players. There is no one out to spend time with them and
offer them sound technical advice before they are signed. Coupled with poor
staffing in our clubs, if they don’t meet the first eleven cut then they soon dwindle away due to neglect.
What is the criteria, procedure and reason that guide Kenyan clubs
signing of players in relation to FIFA rules? The man