Under pressure Gor Mahia officials hunt for Brazilian tactician
Gor Mahia is reportedly in talks with two foreign coaches following the dramatic exit of Frank Nuttall on Monday.
The club hopes to hire either Brazilian José Marcelo Ferreira “Zé Maria” or Spaniard Antonio Flores in the next few weeks.
Ze Maria is a former Brazilian international who turned out for several clubs, among them Parma and Inter Milan, in Italian Serie A during his playing career.
The 42-year-old is relatively inexperienced as far as coaching is concerned but K’Ogalo leadership feels he’s got what it takes to guide the Kenyan champions.
Nuttall joined K’Ogalo in August 2014, presiding over 44 league matches where he won 30, drew 12 and lost two. He won four trophies; two league titles, a Top Eight Cup and a Super Cup.
MEETING
Gor Mahia’s leadership held a meeting on Monday evening when it emerged that Nuttall had ditched Gor for Egyptian powerhouse Zamalek, where he is set to deputise Briton Alex Mcleish.
“Yes, we had a meeting and the name of the Brazilian was floated, though we did not conclude the matter,” a member of the executive, who requested anonymity as he’s not authorised to speak on the matter, said.
Contacted, club boss Ambrose Rachier could neither confirm nor deny this.
“It is difficult to talk about this matter because I do know what the official position (on Nuttall) is. I could not reach him yesterday. I also checked at the training ground and he was not there. I’m happy he’s gone… You don’t just wake up one morning and fly out. It means he’d planned all this. I’ll call a committee meeting to discuss the matter.”
PLOTTING EXIT
Nuttall started plotting his exit after he fell out with the management on a number of issues as well as losing the support of his players.
Prior to his departure, he had signed a new deal that was to run until January 2017. Under the package, he was entitled to Sh990, 000 monthly salary.
The figure covered his monthly basic pay of Sh750,000, Sh120,000 in house allowance amongst other benefits. The new deal was agreed on after the coming on board of sponsors SportPesa.
Prior to that, he had been asked to take a 50 per cent pay cut, a directive that did not go down well with him.
In fact, the club fired him last month only to reinstate him due to public pressure.
