KPL awards 'shambolic', says Ulinzi Stars head coach Matano

Ulinzi Stars head coach Robert Matano (right) accepts the 1st runners up coach of the year awar from KBL Managing Director Joe Muganda awards during the 2014 KPL Footballer of the Year Award (FOYA) gala at Safari Park Hotel on 19-11-2014.PHOTO/DENNIS OKEYO

Ulinzi Stars head coach Robert Matano has accused some of his colleagues of professional negligence in the wake of the alleged shambolic Kenyan Premier League (KPL) awards.

Speaking for the first time since the gala, Matano admitted that there had been intense lobbying and has now called for a radical change in how the process is carried out.

"I confirm that some of my colleagues were very unprofessional and were involved in lobbying. Such things must end if these awards are to be taken seriously,” he said.

Matano, who was voted the third best coach, suggested that in future the coaches must not come together to nominations to minimise chances of lobbying.

"I suggest that individual coaches be given 15 minutes to make own nominations and thereafter we can all meet together and compare notes. After that, those who are favoured by majority of coaches can be declared winners without the intense lobbying witnessed last week.”

Matano further suggested that it is time KPL introduced a monthly award to make it easier for coaches to pick the best players at the end of the season.

“We can be allowed to evaluate the performance of players and coaches after every four matches. If your team have won three matches out of four games, for example, you should automatically be the coach of the month.

“For the players, we can look at the games they played in a month, yellow cards and red cards and how many times they were named man of the match.

“Such statistics will help us make the final decision on who is the best player at the end of the season without anyone having to lobby,” he said.

Matano is one of 16 coaches who took part in the nomination and voting during the gala.