NAIROBI, Kenya, September 11- Sofapaka have set their new British coach, Stewart Hall the target of winning the Tusker Premier League (TPL) upon his appointment to the post on Tuesday.
“He knows what we want. When a team wins the title, we cannot say we want to finish second, third or fifth. In fact, my team has never finished fifth since I took over.
“We appointed him owing to his experience and good papers and we want to win the league and put a strong show on the continental scene since Sofapaka is a big club,” the 2009 champions’ president, Elly Kalekwa, told Capital Sport.
“We have appointed him on a three year contract renewable annually and we look forward to a new chapter in the club,” he added.
Hall will be at the stands when his new charges take on league winners Tusker FC tomorrow in Nairobi where the ‘Watoto wa Mungu’ (Children of God) who are fourth on 39 are seeking to craw the six-point deficit with leaders AFC Leopards.
“We are still working on the logistics of making him comfortable since he still does not have a place to stay yet. We will give him all the support he needs to succeed at this club,” Kalekwa explained.
Upon arrival, Hall who left Tanzanian league outfit Azam in July was given time off to rest and is expected to be on the technical bench when Sofapaka play 2010 champions Ulinzi in their next TPL match.
Sofapaka sacked Salim Ali last month after a string of unimpressive results at the start of the second leg with David Ouma taking temporally charge.
Hall who also coached Zanzibar was also a member of the backroom staff at English championship side Birmingham City and becomes the third European national at the TPL.
Leopards coach, Jan Koops (Dutch) and Croat Zradvko Logarusic of Gor Mahia have already taken their sides to the top-two of the league.
Robert Matano, the coach who won them the league in 2009, Sam Ssimbwa, Ezekiel Akwana, Francis Kimanzi and Ali have been through the revolving coaching door of the club in the last four seasons.
Sofapaka will face Matano in the Brewers dugout on Wednesday in a crunch match that could decide the destiny of the crown since defeat for them will signal the beginning of the end of their challenge for another season.
