Four players want out of troubled Gor Mahia
What you need to know:
- When contacted, Gor Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Lordvick Aduda said they are burning the midnight oil to solve the predicament.
- “We regret the delay in payment of August salaries but we request the players to bear with the situation and adhere to the contracts they’ve signed with the club as we seek to rectify whatever has cost the delay,” he said.
The crisis at champions-elect Gor Mahia deepened after four key players requested to leave the club at the end of the season.
Nation Sport understands the players are unsettled at K’Ogalo occasioned by recent protest over unpaid August salaries and eight-match winning bonuses, the latter amounting to Sh900,000.
The sounding alarm will also force the club supremo to open negotiations with players, whose contracts run out at the end of this season namely goalkeeper Boniface Oluoch, defender Karim Nizigiyimana and winger Innocent Wafula, lest they lose them on the Bosman rule as has been the norm for the past three seasons.
Gor players, who sealed their 17th SportPesa Premier League title three weeks ago, have absconded training since they returned from Algeria on September 1 after bowing out of the Caf Confederation Cup at the group stage.
The club, which pocketed Sh27 million from the competition, has a hefty monthly wage bill of Sh5.5 million, but has had difficulties in meeting the payment deadline date for her employees with sources claiming they’ve already exhausted the Sh66 million entitled to them from shirt sponsors SportPesa in continental preparations and other expenditures hence running out of income.
They are also yet to receive the Sh7 million from the sale of Ugandan left back Godfrey Walusimbi to South African giants Kaizer Chiefs last month.
The devastated players have in the past two games put in a below par performance that resulted into two losses against bottom-placed Thika United (1-0) and Ulinzi Stars (2-0).
“I can’t force players who are not in the right frame of mind to play, it’s difficult to prepare for matches without training and it’s wrong, I don’t support it, it’s affecting my job,” lamented Gor coach Dylan Kerr.
When contacted, Gor Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Lordvick Aduda said they are burning the midnight oil to solve the predicament.
“We regret the delay in payment of August salaries but we request the players to bear with the situation and adhere to the contracts they’ve signed with the club as we seek to rectify whatever has cost the delay,” he said.
It’s not only the Green Army fans who are worried with the team’s surprising bad show on the pitch, but also SportPesa, who entered into a three-year deal worth Sh198 million with the club in January this year.
“We haven’t got to the bottom of it, we will be meeting the club leadership next week but we are giving them some of the sponsorship money in advance to take care of whatever issues they have for now,” SportPesa CEO Ronald Karauri told Nation Sport on Thursday.
He added: “Actually it’s just some money that was due at the end of the month, but we will be sending it over to them immediately.”
Gor, who play English Premiership outfit Everton in a friendly match in November, visit Vihiga United in a league fixture Wednesday next week.
