Gor Mahia league campaign this season would be termed as the worst run in recent history.
The team has not won in seven (7) consecutive games with the last match being humiliated by Ulinzi stars on Modany 26th July 2021 ar Ruaraka grounds.
K’Ogalo’s position have drifted down to eight in the KPL logs with just 40 points with no sign of any improvement.
The most successful club in Kenya is at its lowest with fans and stakeholders asking what could be the problem.
In recent times, the team has won the league titles since 2013 except in 2017 where Tusker won under controversial circumstances. K’Ogalo has also been runner-up in the 2010,2012 and 2016 Kenya Premier League.
While it was quite evident at the start of the season that the 19 times Kenya champions will struggle more so after losing to relegation candidates Vihiga and Nzoia Sugar, the current free-fall has surprised even their opponents now challenging for the league.
There has been a consolation to the club followers after winning the FKF Cup beating AFC Leopards in the finals, but even in that game, they were not convincing.
The club’s troubles stem from financial woes to the signing of below-par players at the start of the season. Club chairman Ambrose Rachier is alive to the fact the team lacks quality but also says their problems are more financial.
“We have a shirt sponsorship with Betsafe and we appreciate what we are getting from them, but when you look at the income and the wage bill, there is a big gap,” Rachier said.
Gor Mahia had signed a KSh 55 million per year deal with the betting company at the start of the season. But this amount will go down to KSh 30 million next season.
But even the Ksh 50 million was not enough to meet the club’s annual wage bill that stands at Ksh 4.5 million a month minus other expenses like players allowances, medicals, and kitting.
As a result, players have had to go months on end without salaries, the club occasionally giving them stipends to help them meet their immediate needs like rent and food.
Due to this, morale has been low, at times the players staging sit-ins or failing to appear for training altogether.
“When they fail to come for training, there is little we can do because they have genuine demands,” former coach Carlos Manuel Vaz Pinto who quit his position and returned to his native Portugal said in one of the interviews.
It leaves the coaching staff with a difficult task if preparing for matches when they do not know which player will avail themselves for matches or training.
As things stand now, the club management cannot wait for the season to end. But there will have no time to restrategise, immediately this season ends, Gor Mahia will be engaged in the preliminary round of the CAF Confederation Cup which kicks off on September 10 giving them only three weeks break after the end of this league season.
With no money and almost half of the first team players running out of contracts, Gor Mahia finds itself in a tight spot.
Already two players- midfielder Kenneth Muguna and defender Charles Momanyi have moved on, Muguna joining Tanzania side Azam while Momanyi is set to join Tusker.
Gor’s woes are compounded even further with the looming threat of a transfer ban should they fail to pay the arrears owed to its former player Dickson Ambundo and coach Stephen Pollack.
Rachier has said the club will work on a payment plan to ensure they are not banned from signing new players.
But where the money to sign new players will come from is another headache.
Two weeks ago, the club reached out to club fans to help raise a massive Ksh 200 million through a paybill number.
But a section of fans have lost confidence in the office which they accuse of lacking accountability.
The club management on the other hand say the issue of accountability does not arise because the club does not make enough money to have extra cash to pilfer.
“What money is there to be stolen at Gor Mahia,” Rachier once thundered.
There may be no money to be stolen, but the club following will be demanding for answers on their poor performance this season.