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The AFC Leopards chairman feels the club is in a better position due to his management and it will not be long before the Tom Juma-led team starts posting positive results
AFC Leopards chairman Dan Shikanda believes the club is in a better position to compete despite the criticism he has faced over their recent woes on and off the pitch.
Ingwe are just from a two-year transfer ban which risked being extended after they failed to honour payments due to former coach Patrick Aussems while the team has been posting negative results.
However, Shikanda feel the club’s problems are orchestrated by forces from within who are keen on seeing the leadership fail but have so far not succeeded due to his ‘astute management.’
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08:16 - 12.08.2023
FOOTBALL AFC Leopards boss confident of clearing pending payments as Ingwe face prospect of being locked out of Premier League
Leopards must give a clear plan of how they will pay money owed to former coach Patrick Aussems by today or risk getting relegated from the top flight
“Last year, six of our players were not registered, they are intact and walked into the team. We have 12 new players because we are coming from a two-year ban that we could not refresh the team,” Shikanda told Citizen TV on Monday morning.
“Were it not have been for our planning and knowing the game, I think Leopards would have been relegated and people will start thinking that Leopards were in this position because of mismanagement but I say no.
“We were in this position because of COVID-19 and when our sponsor left. We are the only team that paid players seven months’ salary during COVID-19 when no football was played. Only Tusker, Bandari and KCB were paying but they are corporate teams.
“When I walked into the leadership of the Den, I realised there were more problems that could meet solutions, the depths we had sunk were too deep and if Leopards did not have a passionate chairman, somebody who can stop his life to make sure that we save the club, maybe the club could have gone.
“I took the leadership when Leopards were 18th on the log, we came in as a rescue team and the players we had had no quality.”
Despite the huge outlay on new players, Ingwe have not managed to score a goal in their opening two league matches of the season, drawing 0-0 with FC Talanta before a 1-0 loss to KCB which has seen pressure mount on new coach Tom Juma but Shikanda is unfazed.
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21:00 - 05.09.2023
‘How many games did we lose last season?’ Tom Juma calls for patience after AFC Leopards' slow start
Fans at Kasarani did not hide their frustration, with a section of them even being involved in a heated exchange with the club’s officials following the defeat to KCB.
“I have a million per cent confidence in him. We settled on Tom Juma so that we have continuity in the technical bench because we knew we were going to restart in the playing unit,” he added.
“If we restarted in the playing unit and the technical bench, we could have stuck further. Having not scored in two matches, this is football and these things happen.
“Before we started singing players, we had this ban which was blocking our preparations. We have now finished our six weeks of pre-season this past week and I believe we are ready.”
The former Leopards and Gor Mahia player believes Leopards have been held back for years due to internal wrangles, something he feels is denying them an opportunity to challenge for trophies.
“We have some serious issues at Leopards, since 1998 we have not won the league and if you look at our history, the four chairmen ahead of me were hounded out of office before their term was finished and they were intelligent people who were trying the best for the club,” said Shikanda.
“My stay at the Den is not because people love me or not, there have been so many fights and you are seeing the cases we are having with people going to court.
“The players are being coerced to go to court. What happens at the Den is that there is so much internal fighting which ends up affecting the players.”
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09:28 - 06.09.2023
FKFPL Collins Shivachi takes AFC Leopards to court after announcing exit
The 30-year-old said he decided to call time on his career because his contract expired.
Leopards will host Muhoroni Youth in their next league match after the international break and fans will be expecting positive results following the poor start.
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