Logarusic among 12 foreign trainers angling for Gor Mahia coaching job

Gor hot-seat interests coaches: Ze Maria exit puts tacticians on red-alert over possible vacancy

A record 12 foreign coaches have applied to take over the coaching job at Kenyan Premier League (KPL) side Gor Mahia.

Brazilian Jose Marcelo quit the job last week after serving for slightly more than one year.

Among those who have applied to handle the club are Zdravko Logarusic, who has handled the club before, as well as former AFC Leopards coach Luc Eymael. Frenchman Didier Gomes Da Rosa has also shown interest in replacing Ze Maria.

Da Rosa has worked in Rwanda and Cameroon. Others are Rolo Zapata from Argentina and George Lwandamina, who currently handles Yanga. According to Gor Mahia Chief Executive Lodvick Aduda, no decision has been made yet on the applications.

“We have had quite a big interest from a number of foreign coaches. By Monday evening, 12 had applied. We continue to receive more and more applications,” he said.

He added: “However, at the moment no decision has been made regarding filling up the position. We have a coach who is handling the team but once a decision is made to bring in someone else, the technical committee will sit down and evaluate all the applications and pick the best-suited candidate for the job.”

At the same time, Aduda has defended stand-in coach Zedekiah Otieno over the team’s 2-0 loss and dismissed reports of alleged sabotage.

“The coach should not be blamed for the loss when you consider all the factors surrounding us before the match. A good number of our players had been away for international duty and the coach had not had time to prepare well while our opponents did not have such a challenge,” he said.

Aduda at the same time clarified that the club had paid out Sh1.5 million to the players as agreed before the Super Cup in Tanzania.

“We have not even been paid by the sponsors but we decided to look for the money and pay the players as agreed and so the issue of sabotage does not arise at all,” he added.

Gor Mahia were relegated to second place on the KPL log after the loss to Sofapaka.