Gor players ‘paid’ Sh600 for bus fare from Machakos as chaos reigns in K’Ogalo camp
Striking Gor Mahia players were each paid a paltry Sh600 for bus fare from Machakos on Wednesday evening after the team lost 2-0 to Ulinzi Stars in a midweek league fixture.
The game was played in the backdrop of a go slow by Gor Mahia players over unpaid salaries and bonuses from eight matches.
The situation looked dire before the match with Coach Dylan Kerr only managing to assemble 15 players out of the required 18 for the match.
And after the match, with the players who showed up for the match facing the prospects of failing to raise fare back home, the team management dished out Sh10,000 to facilitate their return journey.
“I gave them what I could afford so that at least they have something to take them back home. I’m afraid I will be demanded to pay the stadium fees because we’ve not raised enough money from the gate collections to cater for this, ” said one of the officials who sought anonymity.
Just to show how bad things have gotten at K’Ogalo, even the boisterous Gor Mahia fans snubbed this particular fixture.
“It’s horrendous since we came back from Algiers, we can’t prepare but I got to do my job, pick out a team to play,” coach Kerr lamented after the match.
K’OGALO DRAMA
“This morning we planned to leave at 9am but left an hour and a half later because my team manager was calling players to come for the game. My captain (Harun Shakava) has been locked out of his house while Kahata (Francis) said he is not in the right state of mind to play. But credit to the boys, they gave their all despite the circumstances,” a frustrated Kerr added.
On the pitch, Gor Mahia were undone by a brace from Elvis Nandwa in the 37th and 48th minutes which enabled the Nakuru based military team to condemn K’Ogalo to their second straight league defeat and a fourth straight loss in all competitions.
The game aside, drama in the Gor Mahia camp continues to unfold with the players absconding training since they came back from Algiers, Algeria a fortnight ago.
The champions haven’t trained since then with players protesting unpaid August salaries and bonuses from eight matches.
Last weekend they lost 1-0 to regulation-threatened Thika United, having recently been knocked out of the SportPesa FKF Shield by Kariobangi Sharks.
Their woes notwithstanding, Gor Mahia are currently under no pressure for positive results on the pitch after securing the league title with six matches to spare some three weeks ago.
Unless the situation changes, a similar scenario is likely to play itself out in the team’s next league fixture against Vihiga United next week.