Nairobi City Stars team posing for a team photo in a previous SPL.PHOTO/Timothy Olobulu.
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 19- Nairobi City Stars chairman Peter Jabuya has dropped a bombshell that he is willing to disband the team if the club’s financial status does not improve.
The Kawangware based side has been struggling without sponsorship for more than half a decade and speaking to Capital Sport, Jabuya says his taps are running dry and might not be able to single handedly run the club if they do not find a sponsor.
“If things do not improve, then I might be forced to disband the team. I have been struggling to finance the club from my own pocket, but now things are not looking very good for us. You know how the country’s economy is and there is only so much I can do,” Jabuya declared.
This comes barely a week after head coach John ‘Bobby’ Ogolla said the players’ motivation was at an all time low and accused the management of not doing enough to aid the club’s crippling financial side.
“As the management, we are doing more than enough. We have a wide marketing team which has been talking to potential sponsors and we are waiting to hear what will come from them. I remain positive but if nothing comes up, then I will have no option,” he added.
According to Jabuya, salaries for the last two months have not been paid.
The club has a wage bill of approximately Sh1.3million monthly and the Sh600, 000 grants from Kenya Premier League is only a drop in the ocean.
The chairman also added that to run the club smoothly, they need at least Sh2million, an amount he says he has been forking off his own coffers.
Last year, City Stars secured a sponsor, German cosmetic firm, PM-International who brought on board a three year deal worth Sh81million plus additional benefits.
But close to a year down the line, City Stars have never received even a single cent from the company.
At the start of the season, the club stopped donning jerseys with the company’s product fitLine, one they donned from June last year till the end of the season with Jabuya saying he has tried talking to the company over financial remittances but it has been in vain.
“There is a clause in the contract that I think we left loose and that is where the problem is. They (PM-International) said would only start releasing money to us when ready and that is the clause that was never clear. I don’t know how it passed our eyes and those of our lawyers. I have written to them and every time the answer is soon,” Jabuya stated.
City Stars is currently placed second from bottom on the SportPesa Premier League standings on 10 points and has won only two matches this season.
Having been perennial relegation fighters for the last five seasons, they look destined to head in the same direction, but head coach Ogolla remains optimistic they can rescue their campaign.
