Gor Mahia: Are coaches using Gor to make a name?

Ze Maria, Zdravko Logarusic and Dylan Kerr

Are foreign coaches using Gor Mahia as a ladder to build their image before dumping the club?

The sudden departure of Dylan Kerr seems to suggest so. The Englishman threw in the towel on Thursday night slightly more than one year after joining the Kenyan champions.

Kerr had huge success with Gor Mahia winning back to back league titles and also the Sportpesa Super Cup with the club getting an opportunity to travel to Liverpool for a historic friendly match against Everton.

Before joining Gor Mahia, Kerr was virtually unknown having been Under-18 coach for English fourth division side Chesterfield. He had also handled Simba of Tanzania and worked in Vietnam but with little success.

Before Kerr, there was Brazilian Ze Maria. The Brazilian was a good player during his playing days but had no pedigree as a coach until he joined Gor Mahia.

Ze Maria narrowly missed out on winning the KPL title in 2016 after Gor Mahia were docked three points over disciplinary issues. He started the 2017 season on a high winning the Super Cup and by the time he left unceremoniously three months later, the club was at the top of the log.

Before he joined Gor Mahia in September 2014, Frank Nuttal was a little ‘unknown’ fitness coach with no head coaching experience. By the time the season ended, Nuttall had won his first KPL title. In 2015, Nuttall won another KPL tile this time with an unbeaten run something that saw him named the coach of the year.

However, a bad start to the 2016 season made Nuttall’s stay untenable and he resigned in a huff to join Zamalek of Egypt as assistant coach. Bobby Williamson who was Gor Mahia’s coach from 2013 was perhaps the only one who had built a big reputation prior to coming to Kenya.

Williamson was coach of Uganda Cranes for a long time. He had been brought in to replace Zravko Logarusic who had absconded duty the previous year. [Gilbert Wandera]