AFC Leopards fans in a past SPL match. PHOTO/Raymond Makhaya
NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 29 — The AFC Leopards top brass was set to hold a crisis meeting on Monday evening to address issues surrounding the club after a spate of poor results.
Leopards were ousted from the GOtv Shield last weekend courtesy of a 3-0 loss at the hands of Western Stima in Kisumu, coming in the backdrop of a 4-1 loss against Kakamega Homboyz as well as a barren draw with bottom side Nairobi City Stars.
There have also been talks of mutiny within the playing unit with the players having boycotted training last week over unpaid allowances.
“There are various issues we need to address because the direction the team has taken is not good at all. We have heard cases of indiscipline among the players, division in the technical bench among other issues. We will come up with a comprehensive report after that,” AFC Leopards chairman Dan Mule told Capital Sport.
This comes even as the future of head coach Ivan Minnaert hangs in the balance, the coach himself admitting he is unsure whether he will be in charge of the team when the league resumes after the international break.
“I don’t know. It is not in my hands. That will be the decision of the executive committee,” Minnaert said.
He admits the team has been struggling over the past month, adding the sit-ins staged by the players last week slowed down their tempo heading into the Stima match.
“I can say we were at 10% on our usual position when we played Stima. But losing 3-0 was unbelievable. Everything that could have possibly gone wrong went wrong. There is just too much going on and we need to review things internally and get a solution,” the Belgian tactician offered.
The players have been given a three-day rest after a tough run of fixtures and Minnaert hopes they come back fresh and ready to battle to rise up in the league, after losing their most realistic chance of bagging silverware in the GOtv Shield.
The top club management will have a full plate to deal with in the meeting, the biggest issue being players discipline as well as division within the team.
Mule remains confident they will find a lasting solution and the team will be back to its best, adding they have piad up the players’ allowances save for two matches.
“We are doing everything we can to ensure we have sorted out all the problems. It is discouraging to see the team do this way and as the management, we will not sit down and watch,” Mule asserted.
