CITY STARS UP FOR SALE: Owners can no longer shoulder burden of the team’s financial needs
Football
By
Gilbert Wandera
| Aug 18, 2016
Financially struggling Kenyan Premier League (KPL) side Nairobi City Stars is up for sale, club chairman Peter Jabuya has said.
Jabuya said he was willing to give out the club should a prospective buyer show interest.
The City Stars boss said he was keen to end the perennial financial struggles the club has faced and was therefore open to discussions that would help to do just that.
“If we get people willing to take over the club we will give it out. We can discuss the take-over terms; my interest is not so much in the money than ensuring that the club runs smoothly,” he said.
Jabuya has single-handedly run the club for the last seven years. City Stars remains one of the only two clubs in the KPL without a shirt sponsor.
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“You need about Sh30 million to run a club in the KPL but we get just Sh7.2million from our broadcast sponsors. This puts us under a lot of pressure financially,” said Jabuya.
He also admitted that their financial situation contributed to the club’s poor form in the league.
“Obviously, the players are less motivated and cannot perform. They are giving less than is needed to do well in the league.”
The club was originally known as Kawangware All Stars but changed its name to Nairobi City Stars in 2009 when it got foreign sponsors to come on board. But this relationship did not last and Jabuya was left to finance the club on his own until now.
It has not been a smooth ride for the club that has narrowly escaped relegation in the past due to the financial challenges as some of their top players opted out.
Two months ago, former head coach John ‘Bobby’ Oyugi quit after going several months without pay.
Elsewhere, Kakamega Homeboyz chairman Cleophas Shimanyula is happy with the decision taken by Football Kenya Federation (FKF) to suspend match officials.
Shimanyula said there had been tremendous improvement since five match officials were suspended for three months over incompetence.
“It was the best action by FKF and we are already seeing the results. Referees are now more careful in their decisions because they know the same fate can befall them.”
Early this month, the federation suspended Fifa referee Israel Mpaima, Zachariah Ashira, Oliver Ouma and Godfrey Ndeva as well as match commissioner Dominic Weda.
“We have taken this decision after carrying out investigations on 12 matches where teams complained about officiating. In our investigations, we discovered blatant errors in five matches and from this we have asked those who were in charge to step aside,” FKF President Nick Mwendwa said when he announced the decision to suspend the officials.