Pain in Gusii: Shabana in limbo as players keep off training

National Super League side Shabana are in limbo ahead of their their weekend fixture against Mt Kenya as players have failed to show up for training on Tuesday over unpaid salaries.

The team’s training sessions have been limited to two sessions a week after players elected to keep off training citing unpaid salaries and training allowances.

The Gusii stadium based side has found results hard to come by in their recent outings, registering two draws and two losses in the last four matches.

Speaking to Citizen Digital, head coach Andrew Kanuli says the team’s shambolic preparations have translated to a poor run of results in recent fixtures.

“We have been holding two training sessions a week as players go on strike for four days.

“We were supposed to have recovery sessions today but the office says they do not have facilitation for the players.

“The players were on a go-slow for a better part of last week, citing unpaid September and November salaries, and I feel that led to our 2-0 defeat against Fortune Sacco,”Kanuli lamented.

The team’s financial woes has been raging since the start of the season after failing to attract a sponsorship deal.

Speaking at the season-closing ceremony at the Gusii Stadium, club Chairman Jared Niverton promised that the team will bounce back stronger next season as they aim to deliver premier league football to its followers.PHOTO/Dan Ogega/Citizen

With limited resources, the club’s top brass has been engaging the players in a cat-and-mouse-game giving unfulfilled promises, something Kanuli says has led to their promotion ambitions going up in smoke.

“Solving one crisis and running into another has been the order of the day here,” he said. “Ideally we should hold four training sessions a week before a league match, but that has been a pipe dream as most of the time we are forced to hold fewer sessions due to lack of facilitation.”

He says the recent sponsorship of the NSL by a betting company has not helped much as the two tranches to be released to the club can’t sustain a team even for five months.

“The first tranche of the sponsorship money will come, but I understand it will only sustain the team for less than two months,” he said in respect to the anticipated Sh750,000.

“Also, the players say the club owes them huge amounts of salaries from September, ” he concluded.

However, when reached for comment, team manager Elijah Sani said the aborted Tuesday morning training session was a result of miscommunication and the players are expected to resume training on Wednesday morning.

With the financial turmoil forcing key players to pull out of camp, the club faces a Herculean task in its bid of securing promotion to the top tier.

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Shabana Players keep off training

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