Good luck Migne on your Stars job, you will need it

Football Kenya Federation President Nick Mwendwa (left) and newly appointed Harambee Stars head coach Sebastian Migne hold a jersey at a Nairobi hotel on May 3, 2018. PHOTO | DAVID KWALIMWA |

What you need to know:

  • This comes after the abrupt resignation of Paul Put just three months on the job and the short dismal show by Stanley Okumbi, who has since been demoted to Kenya Under-20.

After a lot of searching and interviewing, the football fathers of the nation have settled on monsieur Sebastien Migne as the new head coach of the national team Harambee Stars.

This comes after the abrupt resignation of Paul Put just three months on the job and the short dismal show by Stanley Okumbi, who has since been demoted to Kenya Under-20.

Put resigned citing “personal reasons” but we know well that he was never given a free hand to select his own technical bench.

He was plugged with characters in dire need of salaries than their concern about football. Put had come with a lot of optimism and even suggested that he was building a team that would make it to the World Cup!

That was sheer cheerfulness and we doubt if he himself believed what he was saying. Even Football Kenya Federation officials beside him during his unveiling must have snickered under their covered mouths. We are sure they must have laughed out loud once off the cameras.

That is too funny for them since it is not a task they are keen to fulfil. We were back to Okumbi after just three months of Put in charge of the team; and true to character we were beaten mercilessly by all and sundry.

That is the background that led us to the appointment Migne as the new coach. The man has a lot of experience in African football and his CV makes a good read just as Nick Mwendwa the president of FKF assured us.

We were wondering if he would be allowed to have his own technical bench or some sharp Kenyan characters shall be embedded under him.

The answer we got is that Migne was unveiled alongside his assistant, Nicolas Bourriquet and is set to bring in two more experts on the technical bench — goalkeeper trainer, Guiilaine Coffey and chief medical officer, Ludovic Breul. Well that is a good point to start with.

We do not know just how much he will be paid but that is usually a sticking point with coaches of Harambee Stars. FKF through its president assured us that the government and the federation will accord him the support he requires.

Well, that has been said by the same authority after every unveiling - there have been numerous unveiling functions until we lost count - and then the problems begin. On that score we are allowed to strongly doubt the assurance.

It is a job that was well captured by a recent cartoon in the Daily Nation. Without many words, it was just the FKF president walking away and telling Migne to take charge of some large dilapidated, deflated football complete with maggots. That is the situation the Frenchman may find himself in soon and then it will be as usual: one step forward and two steps forward.

Let us take this opportunity to welcome the new coach and to beseech FKF to please act differently this time round so that we can gain some respect in the football arena. Bienvenu au Kenya monsieur Migne.