Gor Mahia captain Haron Shakava has called on all club stakeholders to calm down and focus on making the club bigger and better.
Shakava voiced his concern in the wake of a difficult month of September, a month that has been rough both on and off the pitch – with off the pitch drama from all corners taking centre stage.
“Yes, we had the issue of delayed salaries but it shouldn’t have been used to bring unnecessary confusion within the club,” the captain told official Gor Mahia website.
“Any keen observer will realize we are fighting against ourselves and this can cost the team or the club in a big way. We should calm down and focus on the positivities as we try to rectify where we went wrong for a better future.”
Having played in Caf Confederation Cup group stage, winning another league title, participating in Cecafa and nailing SportPesa Super Cup title to earn a ticket to Goodison Park, the captain observes that the team did well this season.
“The noise and finger pointing which has also seen players being dragged into by certain people is not healthy at all. My observation as a captain is that we did well this season and focusing on negatives will only derail us.
The centre-back player says that a team can’t be built overnight and only focus and good prepartion without many side issues will help.
“It takes time to build a performing team, not to mean we are the best in the world but we can only get better. We need to focus and prepare well for next season. There’s no need of politicizing issues or taking advantage of situations for publicity”, he added.
The captain also cleared the air about rumours that fans paid his rent after being locked out by his landlord.
“Let me put it straight and clear that nobody paid for my rent. I received Sh12,000 as a gift from a group of fans, I never asked for it. It was abnormal and it’s in bad taste to post my pictures on social media with an appeal. I was not aware of the idea behind it but it gave a very wrong impression – that l was in desperate need of help. Maybe l made a wrong decision to accept the gift because it created issues which were not good.”
Shakava is expected to lead Gor Mahia as they take on Vihiga United in a league fixture today in Mumias. Gor Mahia is coming off back to back league losses for the first time since 2012.