AFC Leopards’ future lies in Under 19 team

AFC Leopards’ Noah Wafula (right) celebrates his second goal against Mathare United with teammate Jacob Keli in their GOtv Shield tie on August 23, 2014 at Nyayo Stadium. PHOTO | CHRIS OMOLLO |

What you need to know:

  • Ingwe has — or ought to have — an Under-19 side which ideally ought to be the feeder to the senior team.
  • Ingwe must celebrate Xavier’s appointment and demand that the Under-19 team is up and running.

The return of former team manager Francis Xavier to Ingwe has almost gone unnoticed, what with the attention of many Leopards fans focused on the team’s campaign in the Kenyan Premier League.

To most of these fans, all that matters for now is whether Ingwe can claw their way back to the league’s summit.

After a poor start to the season Ingwe fans are beginning to believe that with some bit of luck, we should be able to catch up with the top three teams — Tusker, Gor Mahia and Sofapaka.

All we need to do is to win our remaining fixtures because the front runners will inevitably drop points along the way.

But back to the small matter of Xavier. The club’s leadership recently announced that the former TM was back and will take charge of the Under-19 team.

For starters, Ingwe has — or ought to have — an Under-19 side which ideally ought to be the feeder to the senior team.

VERY EXPENSIVE PLAYERS

The problem with Allan Kasavuli and his committee, just like the football authorities in the country, is that they don’t give a damn about youth football.

How else would you explain a situation where none of the current first team players has come through the youth ranks?

We seem to take a lot of pride in buying very expensive players when we could easily have done with talent from our youth side.

We seem to learn nothing from some of the world’s most successful football clubs such as FC Barcelona whose achievements have been anchored on a sound youth system.

The bulk of the team’s all conquering generation of Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Pique and Busquets all came through from Barca’s famed La Masia Academy.

That is why Ingwe must celebrate Xavier’s appointment and demand that the Under-19 team is up and running.

I am sure very few Ingwe fans remember that our Under-19 side in fact finished third in last year’s edition of the KPL clubs’ youth team competition.

One of these boys, Duncan Otieno, was on the bench during Saturday’s GOtv Shield match against Mathare United.

Sadly, the rest of the squad simply vanished into the thin air, thanks to the not so visionary club leadership.

Come the transfer window and we will begin scouring the country in search of players to sign when we could easily have done with emerging talent from our feeder team.