IN DEFENCE OF FOYA: Twahir says many factors were considered to declare Mururi best coach

Foya Chemelil Sugar's coach Mike Mururi with his Foya award

Former Harambee Stars head coach Twahir Muhiddin has defended the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) criteria to identify the Footballer of the Year Awards winners and lauded Mike Mururi as Coach of the Year 2014 overall winner.
Mururi, 37, is head coach for Chemelil Sugar and a former Harambee Stars player with more than 15 years playing experience.
Speaking to FerverPitch, Twahir dismissed as self-opinionated and nonsensical critics of the current FOYA nomination system.
But former Gor Mahia striker, Goro Oronge, said Ulinzi Stars tactician Robert Matano was favourite for the Coach of the Year 2014 award.
Twahir who is Bandari head coach, said the KPL FOYA nomination process is based on a sound criteria and the critics are disrespectful of their credentials.
He said the FOYA nomination criteria is based on proven, sound and well thought-out Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) like individual team’s overall performance during the season.
Twahir said during the KPL nomination for the FOYA 2014 awards, the panel of judges comprising former Harambee Stars Coach of the Year winners, assistant national team tacticians, among others, presided over by KPL Secretariat staff, reviewed the 2014 performance of the 16 premier clubs.
He said this year’s nomination panel comprised former Harambee Stars coaches Francis Kimanzi, Zedekiah Otieno and him, while former Coach of the Year winners included Abdalla Juma, Robert Matano and assistant national tacticians led by Francis Baraza.
“During the year under review, the performance of the following top teams Sofapaka, Tusker, Ulinzi Chemelil Sugar and Muhoroni Youth in the league was carefully analysed and considered,” Twahir said.
He added that the panel noted that Sofapaka had improved by one position to second spot compared to finishing third during the 2013 KPL season.
Tusker moved up two places from fifth to third position, Ulinzi moved from seventh position in 2013 to fourth in 2014, while Chemelil Sugar advanced by five positions from 10th in 2013 to fifth position in 2014. Muhoroni Youth jumped by almost seven positions from 13/14th position in 2013.
“The improvements in the team’s performance and position was one of the KPIs we considered during the FOYA nominations,” Twahir said.
The Bandari tactician said the FOYA nominations panel also considered the individual team’s resources at their disposal during this year’s premier league show-stopper.
Separately, a former Kisumu-based Harambee Stars player Apollo Otuoro lauded the FOYA nomination panel for declaring Mururi the 2014 Coach of the Year.