First it was defending champions Gor Mahia, who parted ways with their head coach Leonardo Martins Neiva following a string of poor results. The Brazilian was fired after only overseeing six matches in the top-flight.
K’Ogalo’s bitter rivals Ingwe followed suit by sacking the Czech tactician blaming him for a spate of unconvincing results. Trucha, who was making a second stint at the Den, was fired after AFC Leopards suffered a 2-1 defeat against Shabana FC at Gusii Stadium on Wednesday, November 27th.
A top Ingwe official, who did not want to be named, confirmed to Flashscore the departure of Trucha. “We have talked with the coach and agreed to terminate his contract, all I can say is it is a mutual agreement from both parties and I want to wish Trucha well in his next destination,” the official told Flashscore.
Trucha, who has managed teams in South Africa, Kenya, Botswana, and Malaysia, left AFC Leopards after nine matches. Out of the nine, Ingwe had managed three wins, two draws and four defeats.
Trust Kenyan coaches with coaching roles
Former Mathate United and Harambee Stars midfielder Noah Abich believes the tendency of local clubs going for foreign coaches should be checked in a move to utilise the many local coaches, who don’t have jobs.
“We have local coaches in Kenya who can do these jobs better than those foreign coaches but I don’t understand why local clubs don’t have trust with Kenyan coaches,” Abich told Flashscore.
“It is a shame that at this age and era, teams like Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards cannot trust local coaches to win them titles, they should change that mentality and keep the trust, local coaches have also studied and have certificates, so they must be respected.”
Abich, who previously played for Nzoia Sugar, Chemelil Sugar, Sony Sugar, Tusker, AFC Leopards, Kakamega Homeboyz F.C. Sofapaka, Mathare United, Bandari, Mount Kenya United in the Kenyan Premier League before hanging his boots, continued: “Most of the foreign coaches come here to make money, they are paid a lot of money and if you don’t pay them, they will take you to FIFA and get paid a lot of money.
"We have seen this happen before not once but many times. Gor Mahia have gone through, AFC Leopards have suffered similar problems.
“It is high time the clubs understood that with proper management and coaches being given a free hand to do their jobs, locals can also produce positive results.”
Abich, however, reserved praise for Gor Mahia for promoting assistant coaches Zedekiah ‘Zico’ Otieno and Michael Nam following the exit of Martins Neiva.
“You see, Gor Mahia have now won two straight league matches under local coaches, they have beaten Kakamega Homeboyz and Mara Sugar. It is all about giving the coaches time to do the job and supporting them,” explained Abich, who recently coached Kibera Black Stars in the lower division.
“Otieno is a good coach, he played for Gor Mahia, he has coached them before and understands the club inside out, so giving him the job was a good decision by the club management, infact I propose they hire him on a permanent deal.”
Tanzania qualified for AFCON with local coaches
Abich’s sentiments were echoed by Kenya Football Coaches Association (KEFOCA) secretary Bob Oyugi, who gave an example of neighbours Tanzania, who qualified for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco because of putting trust in local coaches.
“Tanzania have qualified for the AFCON because they never looked far for coaches, they gave their home grown coaches the job and they delivered an AFCON ticket, here in Kenya, we failed to qualify, in fact, we had a very poor campaign despite having a foreign coach,” Oyugi told Flashscore.
“It is not all about foreign coaches but it is how local clubs treat local coaches, for example, KCB are currently leading the FKF Premier League and they are under a local coach Patrick Odhiambo, we have seen veteran Robert Matano win the league title twice with Tusker. Was Matano a foreign coach?” added Oyugi, who coached Gor Mahia.
Apart from Martins Neiva, and Trucha, the only local coach to have been shown the exit door is Salim Babu. The youthful tactician was hounded out alongside his technical bench following a string of poor results.
Police have gone ahead to appoint Burundian Ndayiragije Etienne on a one-year deal. Ndayiragije, who has coached Tanzania national team Taifa Stars and Mainland Premier League outfit Azam FC, penned a one-year renewable contract.
