Gor is the only horse in the KPL race, the rest are all donkeys

The story is told of former world middleweight boxing great Jake Lamotta.

After a bruising loss to another legend Sugar Ray Robinson on February 26, 1943 Lamotta is reported to have said: “He really hurt me with a left in the seventh round. I was a little dazed and decided to stay on the deck.”

This is after a knockout punch had sent “The Raging Bull” Lamotta reeling on the canvas. In other words, Lamotta was taunting his opponent despite the defeat.

And today I am choosing to go the Lamotta way in taunting the Grim Reaper. In the period since this column took a break late last year, death has knocked at the Gor Mahia door with vengeance, taking away members of the Green Army.

The first and perhaps more pronounced was the passing on early in January of Fidel Odinga, son of former Prime Minister and Gor Mahia patron Raila Odinga.

Fidel or “Obange” as he was known to his close associates was a Gor fan to the core.

Then we also lost Emmanuel Ogalo “Forty Per Cent” and Judith Owili Brademas Bredamar.

Even our neighbours at the den were not spared either and two weeks ago we laid to rest a dyed-in-the-wool Ingwe supporter Cedric Khabuchi Lumiti, a great fan of this column. I wish the good Lord to lay all their souls in eternal peace.

UNBEATEN

And now to football and from where I sit I can comfortably predict that once again the Premiership diadem is Gor’s to lose.

I have watched nearly all the teams in contention and I am sorry to say none of them seems to have the pedigree Gor Mahia has.

As I am writing this article we are unbeaten in the competition so far. Right now we are number two on the log and this is only because of our commitments on the continental football front.

As expected, there are those never-do-wells who will have played more games and found themselves at the top of the table. This is what we call the law of the unintended consequences and we will soon right this wrong.

My sincere hope in the new year is that the club management will address the issue of finances once and for all. It is good thing that we have dedicated fans who will always dig deeper into their pockets and bail the club out whenever called upon by the management.

My gratitude to those fans whether they are big givers like Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero who has bailed us out time and again or the man on the street who can skip a meal and send the money to the club.

But I feel time has come when we need to come up with sustainable measures to ensure the club’s self sufficiency.

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