A sobering moment for Tusker: They are 14 pts adrift of Gor!

Naturally, Tusker should be challenging for the Kenyan Premier League title. Not because it is their birth right, but because of the name they have built over the ages and the depth in their squad.

Ten-time league champions, three-time Domestic Cup winners, two Top Eight trophies and two Super Cups, the brewers have a decorated trophy cabinet at their Ruaraka headquarters but there performance this season does not mirror that.

Coached by Francis Kimanzi, the brewers have failed to rise to the occasion, winning just five times in 13 assignments, the rest being four draws and five defeats.

This has left them rooted at seventh in the table on 19 points, a massive 14 behind defending champions Gor Mahia.

Tusker is a club of means. They can compete for the best players in the region, pay them decent salaries and cobble out a fearsome playing unit.

The current squad is fairly gifted. They are good enough to challenge Gor, but shockingly, are crawling.

In James Situma, Osborne Monday, Humphrey Mieno, Aboud Omar, Brian Osumba, Joackins Atudo, Kevin Kimani and skipper Jesse Were, they have players who have had stints with Harambee Stars at one point on the other.

So, this should rub off the youngsters, but this has not been the case.

POOR PERFORMANCE

On Sunday, they were flattened by Sofapaka 2-1, at home, their second defeat in three games and coach Kimanzi, he of the Dutch football philosophy, was at pains to give satisfactory answers.

“At times, you look at the boys (my players) and wonder. They create chances but don’t convert. Look at the opportunities we created. Yet the boys want to dribble even in front of goal. Some just want showbiz. Why not shoot when in a better position,” he vented.

The shaky performance by the tactician has already raised concern as this comes after offloading star players Ali ‘Teargas’ Abondo, Khalid Aucho, Michael Olunga (now with Gor), Martin Kiiza (AFC Leopards), and custodian Samuel Odhiambo (Ushuru).

Tusker director Charles Obiny defended their decision to let the star players leave.

“We cannot stand in somebody’s way when he has a good future somewhere. Aucho’s (Khalid) contract had ended and Gor had promised him a lot of money, which we couldn’t match,” Obiny said.

“We have a team budget and we have to go with that. We couldn’t pay him Sh2 million sign-on fee that he was asking for. He doesn’t play alone. We can’t use all the company’s money on one footballer.”

On their poor performance, he said: “We are yet to know where the problem is, when we know, then we will act. We will have to meet each and everybody. The board will decide (on the way forward) but I cannot tell when.”

With that assessment, Kimanzi may be living on borrowed time at Ruaraka.