Francis Kimanzi: Why I quit Mathare United

Francis Kimanzi is looking to write a new chapter and history with the national football team having resigned from his position as Mathare United head coach to concentrate on his role as the Harambee Stars and under-23 assistant coach.

Mathare United on Thursday announced that Kimanzi, who deputised Sebastien Migne at the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), had left his boyhood club after four seasons in charge with his eternal assistant Salim Ali being picked as his replacement.

“It’s not polite when you are not always around your team (Mathare United) due to national team duty. It’s even more difficult when the environment is not supportive of the experience you are gathering and bringing to the team,” Kimanzi told Nation Sport.

“It was a hard decision to make because I will miss the environment of the club. When you make such a decision you disappoint the good fans, players and officials but the good thing is that I will still be in the game,” he added.

The Uefa ‘A’ licensed coach said he is keen on guiding Kenya to the Africa Nations Championships (Chan) having already ended a 15-year wait for an appearance at the Afcon. Harambee Stars, who have never qualified for Chan, take on Tanzania in the first leg of the first round qualifier in Dar es Salaam on Sunday.

“We have a busy calendar ahead of us but we picked a lot of positives in the Afcon which we really want to build on. We had a very good squad for Chan but there have been a few surprises due to transfers which has made us look around for other options. We hope to have a good start this weekend and see how it develops,” said Kimanzi with an eye on the sixth edition to be held in Cameroon January next year.

Reflecting on his second stint at the Slum Boys, Kimanzi singled out the 2017 season as his best having helped the club escape relegation with a team largely composed of academy graduates.

“We had to overhaul the squad and bring a lot of young players into the team. It takes a lot for a coach to risk his job by building the confidence of such a young but talented group,” he began.

“It was my first experience fighting relegation and I still remember the struggles we went through, working with a small budget. The clubs which were relegated that season had bigger budgets than us and even more mature squads,” recollected Kimanzi, who guided Mathare United to their only Kenyan Premier League title in 2008 during his first stint.

This is Kimanzi’s third stint at the national team having served as head coach in 2008 and 2012.