Rachier reveals stance on coach McKinstry amid pressure
By Joel Sang, June 28, 2023Gor Mahia chair Ambrose Rachier has confirmed that the club will not part ways with head coach Johnathan McKinstry.
McKinstry led the local giants to their 20th Football Kenya Federation Premier League title, and there were fears he could leave the club given the amount of pressure he has been dealing with.
The coach was confronted by angry fans during their penultimate match, which they lost 3-2 to Kakamega Homeboyz. However, K’Ogalo recovered to take the title home after their 4-1 win over Nairobi City Stars.
Gor Mahia-McKinstry talk
McKinstry, 38, is now set to continue in his role as head coach.
“We need to reinforce our team and have a serious chat with him on whatever we think he is not doing right. We will have an honest talk with him.
“We said we are going to set out from the first whistle of the season and try to collect as many points as possible, so that if we do stumble in the back end of the season, that won’t be catastrophic to us.
“He will be at the club next season. He has done his best because when he came, we did not have a credible team but he has made it up,” Rachier told a local publication.
McKinstry had to work with a rather slim squad for the better part of the season because they were initially under a FIFA transfer ban. To Rachier, winning the league is the best answer to the pessimists who did not give them a chance.
“This trophy is ahead of schedule. Most people were saying it was going to be a mid-table performance, and even some pessimists were saying it could be a relationship fight because of how lean the squad was,” he added.
McKinstry admission
McKinstry, in an interview after Gor Mahia were confirmed as champions, admitted they faced tough challenges and no one saw them becoming champions at the end of the season.
“So few coaches and players get to experience moments like this. There are 18 teams in this league, with 30 players on each of them, yet it is we who get to experience this.
“And especially this season, which has been so challenging. It has been well documented that in the preseason there were a lot of challenges. There were days when we had seven or eight players training because of the off-field issues. To come back from that and from the transfer ban that we had.
‘Gor Mahia fantastic’
“If you went and asked 100 people on the street in July last year if they thought K’Ogalo had a chance of winning the league, maybe five or 10 of them would have said ‘yes’. Most people thought we would be mid-table this season because of the issues off the field.
“But the players have stepped up and grown up a lot. It is just fantastic,” said the former Uganda national team head coach.
Meanwhile, Rachier, a long-serving chair of the club, also said their previous struggle stemmed from the fact they did not have a sponsor.
“We stopped winning, and it was because sponsors stopped sponsoring us. They came back, and we emerged as champions. In the new contract (with the sponsor), we have considered funds that will help us go on CAF trips.”
The season concluded with high drama as Tusker and Gor Mahia engaged in a very tight race. Tusker were threatening to win the third straight title, but K’Ogalo fought relentlessly, weathered the storm, and lifted their record title.
After confirming their place in CAF football, critics and fans alike will want to see how they will perform in the 2023/24 season.