John Carter: Gor must put house in order before chickens come home roosting

Recent rumblings inside Gor Mahia’s house are repetitive occurrences that continue to derail Gor Mahia’s success in domestic and international competitions.  .

Hitherto, Gor is yet to record an impressive win since the 4-0 humiliating defeat to Everton, probably a bad omen crystallized by the exit of coach Dylan Kerr who opted for greener pastures in South Africa.

Bernard Ondieki rescued the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) champions in the first leg of the CAF Champion’s league against Nyasa Big Bullets of Malawi breaking the deadlock with two minutes to the end of the game.

The return leg in Blantyre was a tough one. It took custodian Boniface  Oluoch heroics to rescue Gor from the raining bullets from a spirited Nyasa. The fact that Gor made it to the first round through decisive penalties in the preliminaries should worry the entire K’Ogalo fraternity.

An uphill task faces Gor as they face unfamiliar Nigerian champions Lobi Stars on Sunday.

Let only the coaching crisis, counting the number of influential players who have exited the club in the recent past is worrying. Just in the new season, Gor is not keen to keep Francis Kahata who has been pivotal in the midfield both for the club and the national    team. Reportedly, he has not trained with K’Ogalo after Saturday’s 2-1 defeat by Bandari.

Moving forward, newly installed head coach Hassan Oktay will lead a rained on lion in an attempt to live up to the expectations of always demanding fans and an executive council characterized by bureaucracy and selfish interests preceding the obvious  core business.

Lobi Stars is a good team and making it past USM de Loum sends warning shots to Gor that task ahead is no walk in the park. Gor could be as getting ready for a CAF Cup spot even before kicking the ball against Lobi, a bad trend of always winning the title to represent the country in the prime continental competition only to settle for the second tier just from an early stage.

As good Kerr would always remind Kenya, progress at Gor should not be measured anymore with domestic success, but continental exploits. Unfortunately, the hunger for the local glory leave alone Africa’s appears to be dwindling in a disturbing speed, with chairman Ambrose Rachier and his top cronies watching unperturbed.

John Carter is a sports reporter at Inooro TV, Kenya.