Exactly two months ago I wrote a piece on this column doubting whether Coach Paul Put would really manage to stay put. Well time has proved me right. The man was unable to settle down at Harambee Stars. Having looked at his background, I accurately described him as…” a journeyman of sorts...”
I pointed out two main reasons that were most probably going to make him leave.
One was the fact that even if he won the Senior Challenge Cup our soccer with its badly run programs may not appreciate him. Secondly was obviously the Stanley Okumbi factor. I wondered loudly if the two would be compatible as boss and his junior. Is it a wonder that few days after Put asked for an overhaul at his technical bench and to be given ‘professional assistants’ he is throwing in the towel? Are you surprised?
Regardless of all those stories we shall be told about why the Belgian resigned, the buck stops with FKF. From the word go, the big office left us with many answered questions. I once said that because the recruitment procedures as we know them were not followed the coach would one day leave FKF with an egg, actually rotten one on their face. It has just happened.
By signing up a deal with somebody who may not have been properly vetted, that is what you get, shockers! The job of coach was not advertised. There was no applications called for or shortlisting done among several applications. Paul Put did not compete with anyone and there was no panel to vet and dig into his background to find out whether he has the spine to stomach our soccer conveyor belt. How did we decide that he was the best? Fine best against who? Okumbi?
We should have been told that he is a care-taker coach or they would have let Okumbi stay but give Put some interesting sounding position like ‘technical advisor’, put him on probation and wait. All the same, FKF should have called for applications for other ‘technical advisers’ to be interviewed alongside Paul Put. That way we would have had others coming second and third position. Now Put’s abrupt departure would have forced FKF to frantically look for whoever was number two and negotiate a deal.
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Anyway he is gone and we are stuck with our Stanley Okumbi yet again. We should brace ourselves for another round of mediocrity and low self-esteem all wrapped in one. Our journey to AFCON 2019 in Cameroun and Russia 2022 are dashed ‘kabisa’!
Put’s departure comes when he had lined up several friendlies for Harambee Stars starting March 2018 with a game against Morocco the current AFCON champions. That’s now in doubt. Some friendlies are normally easier to fix when the tactician has personal relationship with his counterpart on the opposite side. For example it would be very simple for Put to arrange such encounters with Burkina Faso and Guinea, his former employers.
I gather Stanley Okumbi will pick up the mantle from where he left. We shall wait and see if the friendlies would go on as earlier planned.
With his recent cruise through the Senior Cecafa trophy, Put’s exit has actually disrupted many things. We were now looking up for upgrading from a regional to a continental platform.
Donning his trademark baseball cap, Okumbi will start giving us long stories about his vision for Harambee Stars. Many will of course wish him well until he draws his line up for achieving the same vision. His view of the best team starts and stops with one team Kariobangi Sharks. Let us hope this time round he will not crowd the national team with most players from Sharks. It reached a point where Kariobangi Sharks players ‘grew horns’ assuming they were the best in town. When asked his ambition, their then lead striker Masoud Juma with total arrogance, began referring to Ingwe and K’Ogalo as ‘small teams’.
Put’s resignation has taken Harambee Stars back to the drawing board in terms of having a unifying factor. Having a ‘mzungu’ coach eliminates many things including interference from the big office. Really, if not ‘instructions from above’, what would make Stanley Okumbi allocate Kariobangi Sharks more slots than any other club in Harambee Stars?
These would not happen with a foreign coach and that’s why I am regretting Put’s departure. The signs are on the wall that left on their own, our local ‘afficianados’ may just ensure the team that wins the league has the fewest players in the national team. Just compare slots for Sharks and Gor Mahia in Harambee Stars.
The biggest difference between Stanley Okumbi and Paul Put was that the former never complains of anything. He is a guy of see, hear, say no evil. The other difference is that Put had the experience and spine to guide Victor Wanyama. Okumbi, I doubt whether he could gather the wherewithal.
The grapevine has it that Paul Put confirmed the adage that ‘what you hear is not what you get’. He was promised total co-operation and team work from the officials. That was not to be. For starters, Kenya’s capital city Nairobi has no functioning stadium yet they wanted Put to take the team to Afcon 2019. Where did they expect him to drill the boys? Camp Toyoyo or Umeme Grounds in Ziwani?
Best of lack coaches, grapevine has it that you got bigger bread somewhere in West Africa.
