Okumbi in no plan to go soft on Stars

He is reputed to be ‘soft’ but new Harambee Stars head coach, Stanley Okumbi,  is in no mood to treat his biggest job yet with kids groves as he gets down to the business of elevating the under-performing national side to the next level.

The former Mathare United and Kariobangi Sharks boss faces an acid test when he takes the team to Group E basement side Guinea Bissau for their third 2017 AFCON qualifier with serious doubts about his ability to handle such a key role.

Since his rumoured appointment was confirmed on Saturday by new Football Kenya Federation (FKF) boss, Nick Mwendwa, who enlisted his services at Sharks where he was chairman, Okumbi has faced a barrage of criticism even before naming his first squad or fielding his first match.

His detractors believe the Stars job should go to a foreigner, let alone a local lad who’s yet to win any notable trophy and his appointment was nothing more than patronage for his deep ‘mtaa’ (estate) links with the new KFK boss.

Bred in the unforgiving neighbourhood of Korogocho in Nairobi’s Eastlands the tactician who played little football but honed his managerial skills with the Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA) youth sides that featured in the Norway Cup is determined to prove all the naysayers wrong.

He quickly cites his Kenyan forerunners, Jacob ‘Ghost’ Mulee who led Stars to the 2004 AFCON and fellow MYSA product, Francis Kimanzi who took the national side to position 68 in the FIFA World rankings as recent examples that locals can get the job done.

“I’m happy because when I look at what local coaches have done in the past with Stars; such as ‘Ghost’ reached the Nations Cup and Kimanzi took us up the FIFA rankings.

“They motivate me and show me that despite people talking about foreigners, I feel if they did a good job, I can also do it. I also motivate myself because when I look at what the foreigners have done, they have not done much,” Okumbi, who was speaking to Citizen and accompanied by one of his two assistants, Frank Ouna, said.

“If they qualified the team to AFCON or World Cup, I would have thought maybe this level is too high for me,” he added with a swipe at highly paid foreign bosses who have made little headway in recent times including immediate predecessor, Scotsman Bobby Williamson, who was asked to step aside by FKF for him.

Never known to raise his voice or betray emotion, the school of thought among those opposed to his elevation is he will find it tough to rein in inflated egos among Stars players who might consider their status to be way above his own.

For all his reputation, Williamson was unable to curb cases of indiscipline in the squad, with the team going on meltdown when they lost 2-1 to Zambia at home in their previous AFCON tie where a number of players were accused of engaging in an orgy at the team hotel.

Further allegations on the players breaking curfew to go out at the December Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup followed and Okumbi has affirmed such incidents will not be tolerated under his watch.

“First, I want to instil discipline since we’ve had problems on and off the pitch. For the team to go forward we must make sure that we have a disciplined team when they are playing and when they are not,” he stated.

Third coach, Frank Ouna, was more forthright when he added: “We shall make the players sign a code of conduct that binds them to observe all the team rules. I have worked with big players in Gor Mahia to realise if you want players to be disciplined you must hit them in the pocket.

“If for example a player is late for training, he knows he will train but there will be no allowance for that day and if it gets out of hand, then we shall not have him in the team. The good thing is our players are fully professional and know what is required of them.”

-Foreign players-

On the issue of whether he would be ‘compelled’ or ‘manipulated’ to call up and field foreign based players who are short of playing time with their clubs or its difficult to monitor their fitness as has been the practise, Okumbi was categorical which criteria he will use to chose his squads.

“We shall look at results. We shall consider players who give us results. We shall allow ourselves to call up maybe a maximum of nine foreign based players and if possible and depending on how good they are, have four or five to start.

“We shall give local players who play week in, week out here a good chance to be in the team but it has to be on merit,” he stressed.

And how does the new technical bench that also has former Stars captain, Musa Otieno, as second coach plan to monitor the fitness or form of foreign based players?

“We agreed with the federation that one of the three coaches would go and follow up on a player on how they train and play. We would not get it so wrong if one of our coaches monitor and scout on player.

“We shall speak with the player and their coach when they are training on how best to use them so as to avoid burn out when he leaves his club to come to us,” Okumbi explained.

“We are going away to Guinea and I insist to our players to have the confidence to play good football since if we play well, we shall have good results.

“The most important thing is to take the team to the next level. At the moment, we are in position 99 and I believe we have good coaches who can push the team forward. We’re sure with the plans and players we have, this is possible,” the new boss added.

-Tickets fiasco-

The former FKF regime led by Sam Nyamweya was plagued with the chronic problem of tickets for foreign based players sent late or not being refunded at all, with their arrival to honour call-ups inevitably delayed.

Travel chaos like the Cape Verde scandal where the team spent 22 hours airborne on a twin propeller place were another hallmark of the slapstick management of the team that was often plagued by disputes over allowances.

“On the part of air tickets, the federation has said a player will be arriving here at least four days before the game or five. Tickets have been a problem and we’ve had players staying in airports for up to eight hours when we travel.

“We will be travelling early, even if it means two or three before, no problem,” the former Mathare and Sharks coach emphasised.

On the poor first-leg outcomes of top SportPesa Premier League clubs in the CAF Champions and Confederation Cup where Gor and Bandari lost their opening legs, Okumbi said the results were not indicative of lack of ability on Kenyan players, teams and coaches.

“Our preparations are not good. Our teams did not prepare themselves early in pre-season. We have players and coaches and I know the next level cannot be impossible.

“The federation that is in power will fight for the rights of the players. I have worked with Mwendwa from the lower levels of football and he has the passion and would not want to see a player suffering. He likes to have the players motivated and taken care of,” he added.

The new boss will reveal his first squad later this week.

“We are meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) and we shall decide on whether to make any changes.”

And what does he do when unwinding?

“When I’m free, I go to an academy to train with 10 year olds since they look up to me. I don’t indulge so much in any other hobby apart from football since you will find me on the pitch almost all the time.”

-Report by Geoffrey Mwamburi (Citizen Radio)