NAIROBI, Kenya, July 27- The managerial musical chairs at AFC Leopard continued last night when Nick Yakhama was fired from the technical bench.
Yakhama who was compelled by the club management to step down from the head coach role in favour of Dutchman Jan Coops was reportedly axed after a meeting convened by the club’s top management.
His place as assistant coach will be taken up by Mickey ‘T9’ Weche who until his appointment has been the coach of national league one side Strathmore University.
Yakhama, who was fired by Chemelil in June, took over at AFC Leopards who had shown Robert Matano the door almost immediately and was instrumental in saving Ingwe from relegation two seasons ago.
Matano in turn had taken over from Belgian Robert Bollen who had been appointed to supplant the former just a month earlier this year.
AFC are lying 12th in the Kenyan Premier League table having won only one match in six and Sunday’s 3-1 loss to archrivals Gor Mahia proved to be the last straw for Yakhama.
Yakhama’s tenure as AFC Leopards had come under close scrutiny and created a rift among the team’s passionate support with a section of fans joining calls for his departure while others urging the coach being given enough time.
Leopards splashed almost Sh1.5m in the recent transfer window to bring in seven players in the most lucrative transfer activity but hopes of a turn around were quickly dashed when the results continued going against Ingwe.
Mike Baraza (Ulinzi), Francis Chinjili (Western Stima), Jimmy Bagaye (City Stars) and Jonnas Naimana were among those drafted in to save the leaking Leopards ship but their impact is yet to be felt in the league.
Matters went worse for Yakhama when club secretary, J J Bukachi gave him a quit ultimatum at the end of June but he weathered the storm and was relegated to number two when Dutchman Coops, who was initially hired as a technical director, rose to the head coach role.
After Sunday’s crushing defeat to the old enemy, top AFC officials led by chairman Alex Ole Magelo, were seen laying down the law to Coops, accusing the team of lacking bite and tactical acumen to get past their well drilled opponents.
Weche was voted among the top 15 AFC Leopards players of all time by a fan poll and is a former Kenya international. He was nicknamed T9 due to his aggressive nature of play.