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Gor Mahia's Fans during KPL match against Posta Rangers FC at Kenyatta stadium. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]
Record Kenyan champions Gor Mahia are set to appoint English-Finnish Steven George Polack as their new head coach, Standard Sports can reveal.
The development comes barely two days after their immediate former coach Hassan Oktay, who led K’ogalo to their record 18th Kenyan Premier League title triumph and historic CAF Confederation Cup quarterfinals, threw in the towel due to personal reasons.
Oktay had requested for five days of compassionate leave last week, to attend to some family matters at his native home in Turkey, leaving the team in the hands of the newly-hired assistant Patrick Odhiambo, a license C coaching holder.
The Turkish-Cypriot born tactician, who replaced Dylan Kerr in December last year, was expected back on Monday to start preparing the team for Sunday’s CAF Champions League first-round tie away to Burundi’s Aigle Noir only for him to shock the Green Army fraternity with a resignation letter on Tuesday.
But with the Confederation of African Football having placed License B as the minimum qualification for coaches handling teams featuring in the Champions League and Confederation Cup, Gor Mahia have moved quickly to engage Pollack.
The experienced Polack, an immediate former Ghanaian giants Asante Kotoko trainer who led them to the Confederation Cup Group stages last season, was expected to hold talks with Gor officials yesterday evening upon arrival from Finland.
“We expect Pollack to arrive in the country today (Wednesday) and talk to us. He is coming to negotiate for a contract and once we agree on terms, we will make the announcement today,” Rachier told Standard Sports.
It is a compliance that we must have at least a license A coach for CAF competitions and our current assistant coach (Patrick Odhiambo) doesn’t have it. Chances are very high we might appoint him, but only if we agree on terms. He chose to come rather than talk to us over phone or mail.
“He is the type of person we are looking for and I don’t think we will disagree. The importance of him coming to Kenya is that the meeting will narrow down the angle on everything and maybe do a handshake on issues we don’t agree. So, if we agree with him he will definitely travel with the team to Burundi.”
The long-serving football administrator cum senior counsel admitted that the abrupt resignation of Oktay left them in limbo.
“It is a tricky situation for us because Oktay just resigned the other day leaving us in limbo. It is somehow hard for us, but I’m optimistic we are going to manage it,” said Rachier.
“But the good thing is that Polack had applied for the job in November last year after Kerr left and was third in our wish list. That’s why we revisited our old list instead of inviting for new applications.”
The 58-year-old Polack boosts of over 20 years of coaching experience in Finland and Africa. He has handled more than eight top Finnish clubs and three Ghanaian clubs (Bertekum Chelsea, King Feisal and Asante Kotoko).
Steven George Polack profile
Nationality: English-Finnish
Age: 58 years
Previous clubs: Asante Kotoko, Bertekum Chelsea, King Feisal, Inter Turku, FC KooTeePee, FC Viikingit, AC Oulu, KPV, FC Raahe and PK Keski-Uusimaa
Trophies won as a coach: Ghalca Glo G8 Cup (2011), Ghana FA CUP (2016/17), Ghana President cup (2016/17)
The Standard Group Plc is a multi-media organization with investments in media
platforms spanning newspaper print operations, television, radio broadcasting,
digital and online services. The Standard Group is recognized as a leading
multi-media house in Kenya with a key influence in matters of national and
international interest.
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