No reprieve for troubled Gor as boycott rolls on

Gor Mahia FC captain Harun Shakava has ruled himself unavailable for their Wednesday’s clash against Vihiga United over what he termed as ‘fatigue’ in the latest indication that the boycott that has only started to rock the club just won’t go away yet.

The Kenyan Premier League (KPL) champions have lost each of their last four matches across all competitions with the latest being Wednesday’s 2-0 loss against Ulinzi Stars in Machakos.

Only 16 players showed up for that clash out of the required 18 with head coach Dylan Kerr saying only two of 27 players had been available on the morning of matchday.

“I don’t think I will be available for the next match, I’m resting. Players are not attending training sessions because they don’t even have bus fare. Some have been locked out of their houses for not paying rent,” Shakava told Citizen Digital.

The demotivated squad, who are owed salaries for August as well as winning bonuses, had threatened to skip last Sunday’s KPL clash against Thika United before going on to lose 1-0 prompting allegations of match-fixing.

But Kerr defended the professionalism of his players, saying the club’s sudden slump in form is only a direct result of a team lacking motivation fatigue finally kicking in.

“Match fixing? That is one thing I will never ever think. Why would I fix a match? That is not the case. We have not had enough preparations and my players have not received their salaries for the month of August and bonuses for eight matches,” Kerr said.

The Englishman was backed by Team Manager Jolawi Obongo.

“You already know that we are playing without even training and that’s why we have poor results. The rumours that we are selling matches are rubbish. Furthermore we are not allowed to bet.”

Obondo reaffirmed the club’s management is doing everything possible to sort out the crisis before it deepens and added that the players who showed up in Machakos were paid KSh15,000 in bonuses.

Jolawi said he is holding talks with chairman Ambrose Rachier and the treasurer Sally Bolo to resolve the issues.