Gor’s Siang’a throws in the towel

By Gilbert Wandera

Former international goalkeeper James Siang’a has stepped down as Gor Mahia coach a day before his contract with the club expires.

Siang’a, who has been in charge of the club for the last one year told journalists Tuesday he was not keen on extending his stay with the club.

"Today I want to announce that I will not renew my contract with the club which expires today after serving for one year," he said.

Siang’a said he has made the decision after consulting top Gor Mahia officials who have accepted to let him go in line with the contract he signed last year.

The veteran coach who denied that the recent calls by club fans had twisted his hand, said he had achieved what he set out to accomplish with the club and feels it is time to move on.

"When I took over, I was determined to leave a legacy with the club.We did well winning three trophies apart from finishing the league in a respectable position. I feel it is time to step down and focus on other things," he said.

The former Gor Mahia coach said he wants to focus on youth development and management and will still be available to give vital tips to the former continental club champions.

Siang’a said he has a lot of faith in the current team and assistant coach Raphael Auka.

"The team I am leaving behind is capable and with the right attitude they can go places. The players are young with a lot of promise. They will be top contenders for the league next year," said the former Simba SC of Tanzania coach.

He called on fans to be patient with the players whom he said have shown a lot of improvement after a bad start to the season.

"We started badly but that was to be expected considering that the players were still inexperienced.

"My vision was that we would start winning after three months and that is what happened,"

He also downplayed Gor Mahia’s two losses in the second league saying they will recover.

Gor Mahia lost 2-1 to Chemelil Sugar in the opening match of the Kenyan Premier League second leg before losing 1-0 to Thika United last Sunday.

Gor Secretary Vincent K’Odera said they have accepted Sianga’s decision to leave and are searching for a replacement.

"We feel his loss but the situation would not have allowed him to continue," he said.

Sianga’s decision to leave the club comes just four days after a group of fans attempted to eject him from the team’s training ground.

Fans have shown discontent with the veteran coach blaming him for the team’s poor show.

Last Friday he told off the fans insisting that he was going nowhere as he was legally contracted to the club.

He rarely attended Gor matches especially in Nairobi where fans had at one time threatened to rough him up.