‘Inexperience’ hurting Harambee Stars - Matano

Over the last few months, top football stakeholders have voiced their concern about the state of football in the country, and Kenya Elite Coaches Association chairman Robert Matano is the latest to express his unease.

In an exclusive interview with Nation Sport yesterday in Limuru on Tuesday, the AFC Leopards coach said that inexperience in the Harambee Stars technical bench is the team’s greatest limitation, as none of the four national team coaches “are experienced enough for their current positions.”

INTOLERANCE

According to Matano, the federation’s decision to isolate the experienced local coaches, coupled with their intolerance to alternative opinions, must change for the country to achieve any objectives in football.

“The problem with the leaders we’ve had is that coaching positions are normally dished out to those who do not deserve.

“And as long as we continue that way nobody should expect any miracles. There are no short cuts in football,” said Matano.

“Experience is one commodity that human beings cannot buy. It is something that you acquire with time and within the current national team setup, from the top management down to the team managers, nobody has any experience in managing the team at that level.”

“It is true that sometimes you learn while on the job but in our situation, we have a technical bench composed purely of inexperienced individuals.

“So who will learn from whom? We have a management that really despises divergent opinions and ideas.

“They hate to consult and have completely isolated people who can help.”

“Twahir (Muhiddin), Jacob (Mulee), Francis (Kimanzi) and I have been in this industry for a very long time, even in the national team setup. Yet the federation never consults anyone even when the team clearly needs help.”

“These are people who have a 30-year coaching experience in local football, and have won several trophies. Is it wise to act like such people have nothing to contribute to the national team?” he posed.

Matano, who was the national team’s assistant coach in 2006 under Tom Olaba, also said that it was regrettable that current Stars coach Stanley Okumbi does not have a starting line-up.

“Aren’t you worried that we are trying to qualify for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, and want to make a World Cup appearance in 2022, yet we still don’t have a definite starting 11?

“The turnover of players in the national team is just absurd and we shouldn’t be afraid to point these things out if we want to move forward.”

“As the chairman of Kenya’s elite coaches, I was one of the first people to endorse Nick Mwendwa when he was bidding for FKF presidency, because I thought that things would change, and Kenyan football would be made great again. Things have changed, yes, but have they changed for the better?

“One good thing that the federation has done is to create more engagements for the national team, by organising many friendly matches. But how does that help when each game is graced by an entirely different squad?”