Gor leave for Caf tie on Friday

What you need to know:

  • Gor, coached by Frank Nuttall, have lost two days of training. This week, players boycotted training owing to unpaid salaries. The 14-time Kenyan champions owe players salary for the month of March.

Cash-strapped Gor Mahia will finally leave Friday morning for Brazzaville to honour their African Champions League first round return leg match against Republic of Congo’s AC Leopards.

Gor were meant to have left yesterday but postponed the trip as the club lacked Sh5.5 million to finance the trip. K’Ogalo, with no shirt sponsor, held a fund-raiser on Tuesday which realised Sh510,000.

But yesterday, Kenyan Premier League Limited gave Gor a grant to honour the Sunday fixture. Gor leave today at 8am. Gor chairman Ambrose Rachier yesterday said the money is part of Gor’s annual grant from Kenyan Premier League Limited.

“We’ve been given a grant by the Kenyan Premier League Limited and we shall travel to Brazzaville tomorrow (today) before we make our way to Dolisie,” he said. He also said players have been paid part of the money owed to the in salaries.

K’Ogalo are scheduled to play AC Leopards on Sunday afternoon. Gor lost the first leg 1-0 in Nairobi.

BOYCOTTED TRAINING

Gor, coached by Frank Nuttall, have lost two days of training. This week, players boycotted training owing to unpaid salaries. The 14-time Kenyan champions owe players salary for the month of March.

The club also owes players winning and travelling bonuses running into millions of shillings, while the new signings are yet to be given their sign-on fees in full.

It is for this reason that the players stayed away from training on Tuesday and Wednesday, but Rachier told Daily Nation Sport that the club considers the players’ welfare a more immediate concern, and Gor were only willing to travel once the club has paid money owed to the playing unit.

“Our targets as a club focus more on retaining the KPL title than winning the Caf Champions League trophy. Besides, the national league, will have matches to honour long after the champion’s league tournament is over and that is why we were willing to forgo the competitions and instead use the little money we have to make the players comfortable. We have today given the players part of the money owed to them,” he said.