NAIROBI, Kenya, February 18 – Antoine Hey was on Wednesday unveiled as the new Harambee Stars coach by Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
Hey who has previously coached Lesotho and Gambia has the task of picking up where Francis Kimanzi left off by guiding Stars through the second and final round of the FIFA World Cup/Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
“I can promise you that I will do everything from my side to deliver the results that Kenyans are expecting,” said Hey who will begin his duties once his current contract with the Liberian national team winds up this month.
“There are many issues in Kenya football and I’ll try to find a solution and start as early as next week,” said hey who also played for German outfit Schalke.
Hey replaces Kimanzi who was sacked last month after the Mathare United coach was accused by Football Kenya Limited (FKL) of insubordination when he declined to take Stars to Egypt for a friendly against the African champions.
The team which was coached by stand in coach John ‘Bobby’ Ogolla lost 1-0.
FKL directors Mohamed Hatimy, Titus Kasuve and Erastus Okul were also at Treasury where Hey was paraded in front of the media as well as German Minister of State Gernot Erler and German ambassador to Kenya Walter Linder.
Odinga said that he hopes the German Governmnet will assist in the funding of Hey’s remuneration package.
“We have asked the German government to assist us with the funding for Hey’s services to our country and this is an area where we have worked very successfully with the Germany,” said Raila.
Lindner praised Kenya for appointing Hey but was non committal on whether his government will honour the Prime Minister’s request.
“Its not easy because of the current recession which makes the money difficult to come across but you can be rest assured that we are working behind the scenes on how we can finance it,” said Lindner.
Hey has also managed Tunisian division one club US Monastir in 2007.
His knowledge of Carthagian football could come in handy when Stars take on Tunisia in group B of the world cup qualifiers alongside Nigeria and Mozambique.
