AFC coach Manoah quits

By Gilbert Wandera

Pressure is mounting on coaches even as the second leg of the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) kicked off at the weekend.

Edward Manoah became the first coach to throw in the towel as he quit the AFC Leopard’s job on Saturday after his team’s 2-0 loss to Bandari in Mombasa.

Club treasurer Duncun Angode said the former coach resigned after failing to win the first match of the second leg.

"He had promised to quit if Leopards did not win the KPL second leg opener and that is exactly what he did," said Angode.

A distraught Angode said they were getting concerned with the poor results and he may be the next on line if nothing improves at the club management.

Edward Manoah

"We did our best this time round including sending the team to Mombasa two days earlier. We are as concerned as the fans and may be forced to quit if nothing improves.

"Lets see what happens this Saturday in our match against Western Stima," he added.

"The players were so upset after going down to Bandari that they even refused to eat their supper. We are all perplexed by the sad state of affairs."

Also feeling the pressure is Gor Mahia head coach James Sianga who does not even attend the club’s matches.

On Sunday, club fans demanded his sacking after the team went down 2-1 to Chemelil Sugar but officials are sticking by him.

"It is normal to lose and we don’t understand why the fans are making a lot of noise," said club chairman Ambrose Rachier.

"The fans must get rid of this attitude of causing furor every time the club goes down. In my opinion the loss to Chemelil does not deserve the trouble it has created,"

Chemilil fortunes

Rachier admitted fans have a right to express their anger over poor performance but insisted that Siang’a will continue handling the team.

"It is within their right to ask questions but let them know that Siang’a continues to handle the club,"

Apart from the coaching crisis, Chemelil Sugar’s 2-1 win over Gor on Sunday saw the sugar-millers continue with a great away record that sees them jump to third spot in the standings with 26 points.

It has been an incredible turn around by the sugar-millers who at one time were struggling to get off the bottom of the table. Sofapaka maintain top spot despite being held to a 1-1 tie by Thika United.

Meanwhile, the national Under-17 team finished runners-up in the just concluded four-nation invitational tournament held in Bahrain last week. The Kenyan team won one of the matches they played and drew two to finish runners-up to eventual winners Turkmenistan but only on goal aggregate.

Kenya beat hosts Bahrain 2-1 and drew 1-1 with both the eventual winners and Jordan. The team arrived on Monday afternoon from Bahrain.

Football Kenya Secretary General Sammy Obingo said the same side would represent the country in the up-coming regional youth tournament in Sudan.

He thanked officials from JMJ Academy for preparing the team prior to the Qatar tour.