New AFC Leopards John Stewart Hall vows to 'resurrect' club

New AFC Leopards Coach John Stewart Hall has vowed to turn around the club’s fortunes.

Hall, who was unveiled by the club leadership on Monday in Nairobi, will take charge of the team’s two final Kenyan Premier League matches following the sacking of caretaker coach Ezekiel Akwana at the weekend.

Akwana replaced Ivan Minnaert who was sacked due to a string of poor results.

The 13-time champions, who are placed 13th in the league standings with 30 points from 28 matches, face leaders Tusker this weekend before finishing a disappointing campaign against Muhoroni Youth.

“I’m here because I want to be here. I have a fantastic challenge.... to wake up a sleeping giant! I want to resurrect a sleeping giant,” Hall said.

“I know the team very well. I also know the club’s history, but my main challenge is to make the club successful again.”

Hall, who joins on a two-year contract, watched Ingwe’s 3-2 loss to Sofapaka last Friday at the Kenyatta Stadium in Machakos and noted that most players lacked passion while others had lost hope.

“I will assess the team and players with no future at the club will be released at the end of the season,” he added.

The 57-year old, who also handled Sofapaka, said he is happy to back in Kenya. The Englishman, who has been out of employment after resigning as manager of Tanzanian moneybags Azam SC, emerged the best from over 20 coaches interviewed for the job.

At club level, Stewart has coached Pune FC in India and Sofapaka in the Kenyan Premier League.

Hall led Azam to the 2015 Cecafa Kagame Club Cup title after beating Gor Mahia 2-0 in the final in Dar es Salaam.

Club Chairman Dan Mule said the coach will be given a free hand to choose his technical bench as well as supervise players training before selecting a team for next season.