Shikanda: Time for AFC Leopards to be corporate-owned

AFC Leopards chairman Dan Shikanda has said that it is time to amend the club’s constitution to allow it to be corporate-owned.

At the same time, the former Kenya international has warned that the club is not yet off the hook over contractual breach of its former members.  

Shikanda also revealed that they settled on Czech coach Tomas Trucha as Tom Juma’s replacement, since they wanted to match the “technical acumen” of their arch-rival Gor Mahia.

“Whatever we are going through should precipitate a constitutional moment for the club,” said Shikanda on NTV’s Monday night live sports show - SportOn.

“Maybe this is the time to go corporate and make sure that we can actually attract corporate sponsorship and start running this club like a company where we will not be making losses the way we are doing. We are also prone to wrangles because being a society club, we are open to anyone.”

While Gor Mahia chairman Ambrose Rachier had in March 2019 hinted that the club’s constitution will be changed so that it is turned to a limited company, that is yet to take place.

Just like most Kenyan football clubs, the 12-time champions have been grappling with financial challenges, with delay in payment of players’ salaries and allowances sometimes being reported.

But thanks to the Betika and Azam TV deals, the club can now meet some of its financial obligations without difficulties. On July 29 last year, Leopards and Betika inked a three-year deal worth Sh65 million, while in the separate broadcast deal that Ingwe and Gor signed with Azam in early August, Nation Sport understands that the two clubs are each guaranteed $ 20,000 (Sh 2.9 million) every month.

Football Kenya Federation (FKF) is yet to make public how much clubs will be receiving in the seven-year broadcast rights deal sealed with Azam on August 31, which is worth $9.1 million (Sh1.3 billion).

Shikanda said with the increasing financial obligation in the team, which include running the youth team, having the club owned by a corporate is the best way to go.

“A lot of money is needed, which will not come from individuals,” said the former striker, admitting that he is under pressure to guide the team to success.

Apart from lack of enough time to scout for Juma’s replacement, Shikanda said the club settled on Trucha since there was a need to maintain the momentum that former coach Patrick Aussems left at the club.

He attributed their 2-1 win over Gor on May 14 to the technical prowess of Aussems. Trucha, 51, is a Uefa Pro license holder coach just like K’Ogalo’s tactician Johnathan McKinstry.

“When we had to part ways with Tom Juma, I told my guys we will not go for a local coach simply because my rivals cannot be Uefa and we lower our standards,” he said.

“We had not beaten Gor for seven years and the difference between us and them was not players but technical acumen that they had over us. Them having Uefa Pro License coach while we struggle with CAF A or B coach, I mean that gap was telling.”

Starting with Trucha, the chairman said the club now engages a battery of lawyers to write watertight contracts, in order to avoid being sanctioned by Fifa over contractual breach.

He admitted that the club has previously got it wrong in parting ways with its former members since Fifa only recognizes three ways: just cause, expiry of contract and mutual agreement.

“We might still find ourselves there (being drawn to court over contract breach) because if you look at the players we parted ways with maybe five or 10 years ago, they were being released on the strength of the exit clause where you tell somebody we cannot continue with you so you sign here and we release you,” he said.

“When they go to other lawyers, they tell them that they should be paid the entire of the contracts. We are trying to talk to them to reach a payment plan which gives us an option of separating mutually.”

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