Gor Mahia coach threatened by fan

L-R: Sandro ‘Onyango’ Fantoni and Dylan Kerr

 

• Cracks have started to show with claims of infighting within Gor’s technical bench
• According to the club’s organising secretary, Coach Dylan Kerr wants fitness trainer, Sandro ‘Onyango’ Fantoni fired

Cracks of division have started to show in the green walls of Gor Mahia ahead of the 2018 Kenyan Premier League (KPL) season kick off.

The differences at K’Ogalo throws into doubt the future of darling coach Dylan Kerr at the club he guided to their unprecedented 16th KPL title two months ago.

Gor Mahia Organising secretary, Judith Nyangi lifted the lid on what is suspected to be infighting within the technical bench and a section of the club’s executive.

Nyangi claimed that Kerr wants Gor Mahia fitness trainer, Sandro ‘Onyango’ Fantoni discharged from his duties.

“He even wants Sandro fired,” alleged Nyangi on Gor Mahia fun page. The Italian, Sandro, a darling of many K’Ogalo faithful, was part of the backroom staff of Brazilian Jose Marcello Ferreira who took over the club in 2016.

Sandro, however, decided to remain at the club after ‘Ze Maria’ left for greener pastures in Albania mid last year.

The cracks are now threatening to creep into the pitch after Kerr received threats on his life from a section of Gor Mahia fans who are not happy with the coach’s choice of the team’s squad.

Kerr who replaced Ze Maria last July however, denied the claims of sharp divisions within the technical bench.

 “We are happily working together. The assistant coach, the goalkeeper trainer and everyone is happy. Haven’t seen any division in the technical bench,” Kerr told The Nairobian.

Away from the backroom wars, Kerr is also battling with loyalty challenges within the squad after a section of fans sent chilling threats to the Englishman.

During his last training session in Nairobi before K’Ogalo left for a 12-day pre-season camp in Narok early this week, Kerr was forced to field a different goalkeeper against his wishes as a section of fans demanded that he give unnamed ‘fan favourite’ goalie more play time.

“Nice to be threatened by a K’Ogalo fan. Maybe he should become a coach,” Kerr tweeted after the incident.

But a defiant Kerr said that he will not succumb to threats, while at the same time, insisting that his choice of squad will be influenced by the current form and not history.

“I pick my squad based on how they have performed in training and not their records in the past years,” Kerr who took to twitter to announce the threat to his life told The Nairobian.

“Some fans think that I should be playing a certain player and not the other, but I pick my squad based on how much one has put in training and in consultation with the rest of the technical bench. Things must be done professionally,” added the former English defender.

But even as the cracks start to show in the ‘big house’ of Kenyan football, of most importance to Kerr though will be the forthcoming CAF Champions League in February in addition to defending the league title.