• Gor Mahia assistant coach Sammy ‘Pamzo’ Omollo confirmed that the club had, indeed, introduced a virtual training program a fortnight ago following the government's ban on sporting activities on March 25.
• “We have been training as we patiently awaited the management to address the issue of our salary arrears. All the while, the management gave assurance that all would be well,” said the player.
Even as stakeholders continue to relentlessly push for the resumption of the Football Kenya Federation Premier League, all is not well at Kenyan champions Gor Mahia.
Only a week after the club proudly announced they had made headway by introducing an app that would enable the coaches to follow up on individual training programs, the players have downed their tools.
Gor Mahia assistant coach Sammy ‘Pamzo’ Omollo confirmed that the club had, indeed, introduced a virtual training program a fortnight ago following the government's ban on sporting activities on March 25.
“We developed an app through which we could closely monitor the playing unit’s individual sessions from the program given by the technical bench," said Pamzo.
Omollo, however, observed that the program encountered some teething problems and wasn't as effective as group training sessions.
“As much as it served some purpose, the virtual training program is not bringing the desired outcome. I am still convinced that training as a unit is much better in terms of preparing the team. Online training does not have the same impact as physical training,” he observed.
Omollo said that they had relayed crystal clear instructions to each of the players on what they were expected to do.
“Our players are required to be involved in regular gym sessions after running at least five kilometres each day," he said.
Omollo, who was appointed assistant coach after parting ways with Posta Rangers in February, said they had embarked on the virtual training program in anticipation that competition would be resuming soon.
“After the Covid-19 vaccination exercise, anything is bound to happen soon and it is, therefore, only important that we prepare our players well in advance.
But the whole idea has now run into a hitch after the playing unit downed their tools on Friday.
A player who spoke on condition of anonymity, for fear of reprisal, told The Star on Wednesday that they had resolved to avoid any training sessions until the club offsets their pending dues.
“We have been training as we patiently awaited the management to address the issue of our salary arrears. All the while, the management gave assurance that all would be well. But by Friday morning, we had not seen any progress and so we resolved to stop training until our demands are met,” said the player.
“We had been given a virtual training program, but the technical bench gave us a thorough chiding given most of the players were not following the guidelines faithfully,” he added.