Football
Exclusive: Shabana Coach Sammy Omollo Says his Team Will not Fight Relegation
Shabana FC coach Sammy Omollo is confident his team won't battle relegation in the 2024-25 FKF Premier League after a promising start, earning two points on the road against Bidco United and Ulinzi Stars.
Shabana FC head coach Sammy ‘Pamzo’ Omollo says that his team will not fight relegation this term after a rather bright start to the 2024-25 FKF Premier League where they have picked two points on the road against Bidco United and Ulinzi Stars.
On June 23, 2024, the Kisii-based Glamour Boys avoided relegation by a whisker after beating Murang’a Seals 1-0 at St Sebastian Park and it is a result that motivated coach Pamzo to ensuring that his team had a better preseason ahead of the current season that has been marred with a lot of stoppages due to the three international breaks.
On the opening day, a well finished strike by Mathew Tegisi was cancelled by Bidco’s Douglas Mokaya to deny the “Glamour Boys” an opening victory. Nearly a month later, Shabana were forced to settle for a point at the Ulinzi Compex in a four-goal thriller against the hosts, Ulinzi Stars.
Omollo not Worried About Shabana’s Season Start
“Pamzo”, who won the league title with Tusker FC in 2011, says he is not worried about the start of the season claiming that the two points on the road are better than what they got at this stage during the last campaign.
“We started the season very well. We played two away games against Bidco and Ulinzi. In the two games we drew. We let points slip but these are fixtures we lost last season,” “Pamzo” told SportsBoom.com
“There is a very big improvement from my side and we will pick from there,” he continued.
Shabana were denied an opportunity to play on home turf for the first time in 18 years when the day’s match officials went missing after the pre-match meeting. Tore Bobe as they are commonly known in their Kisii backyard were scheduled to play Posta Rangers at the newly refurbished Gusii Stadium but this did not happen to the disappointment of fans and both the teams
We had an opportunity to play for the first time in 18 years at home. The home fans had filled the pitch and both teams were ready for the clash.
Pamzo
“The referees came for the pre-match and we knew that everything was okay until an hour to kick off when we realised that the match officials were missing.
“These are things that make our football lag behind, the referees gave no reason of abandoning the match and we should not be seeing such things happen in future,” a visibly irritated “Pamzo” stressed.”
The former Gor Mahia defender continued: “The crowd was sitted by 11am and everyone wanted to cheer us on this day, how it came to happen that the match officials went missing is till beyond me.”
The incident painted a bad picture on what promised to be a good day of football and the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) promised to investigate the matter in a letter dated September28, 2024.
“Pamzo” further wondered why there are many breaks in between the league matches with other countries allowing games to go on into the last weekend before releasing their players to respective national teams.
My team has played only two games, most teams have played four games. Catch up will be tough, that means we will be playing matches in midweek and it is extra pressure to us
Pamzo
The FKF Premier League has taken a 21-day break to pave the way for the October international break that will see the men’s senior national team Harambee Stars play a double header against Cameroon in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers.
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