If Kenya's top clubs were to establish proper schemes, Kenya could produce players who are refined in addition to being talented. And the country would soon take its place amongst Africa's elite teams.
Appoint Competent officers
The position of Secretary general should never be elective. Rather a competent person should be hired. Said person should have academic qualifications, have a business background and show initiative, imagination and vision. Ideally a private consultancy firm such as KPMG should be hired to interview candidates and make recommendations. What this does is ensure that potential candidates are selected on merit not based on who they know. This kind of behaviour alienates fans and potential sponsors. The secretary general should be hired on a performance contract. He will be charged with ensuring the clubs finances are audited as required, purchasing equipment for clubs, organize the recruitment drives, market the club etc. His pay should be based on such targets as how much attendance has increased, how many new members have signed up, how much sponsorship the club has attracted and how much merchandize the club has sold.
By hiring only competent officers, the club will inspire confidence in potential sponsors who will be willing to invest their money in the club. Sponsors like to associate with succesful well run organizations.
Buy Assets that will help Sustain the club and seek other revenue streams
Once the club is on a firm financial footing, some of the profits should be used to buy assets that will help sustain the club in the future. Such assets can include an office building whose space that is leased to other organizations . Athletics Kenya has done this successfully for years buy leasing out office space at Riadha house. On the topic of facilities, one is tempted to wonder what became of the piece of land at Kasarani that was donated by President Moi ostensibly to build club houses for self supporting clubs.
During the 1990s, Cyrus Jirongo stepped forward to become patron of AFC Leopards. At the time he lavished millions on the club to pay player salaries. many players at the time were making six figure salaries (in ksh). However as soon as his finances took a turn for the worst, he had to abandon the club. The fortunes of the club took a turn for the worst. Instead of lavishing players and officials with huge amounts of money, he should have purchased assets for the club that would help sustain the club on a long term basis. In addition he should have insisted that the officials must put in place structures that ensure accountability. One must remember that the primary reason officials prefer to receive money from officials and not from members is because they do not lik to account for it. Had he put the club on a firm financial footing the club would now be in excellent shape.
Selling club Merchandize is another way that the club can raise money. Such merchandize can be anything from T-shirts to jerseys, pens, bags and decals. as the author of this website, I can assure you that I have often received e-mails from people from all over the world who are interested in buying specific club merchandize. There are many people who pride themselves in collecting apparel from various teams across the globe. It is therefore critical that any 21st century club must create an official website or partner up with an overseas based website that sells sports goods.
Establish youth development schemes
| Unless Kenyan clubs start to take youth
development seriously, they will never match their counterparts from North
and West Africa. Nations such as Egypt beat Kenya specifically because their
players are more refined. They have been playing under qualified coaches and
learning fundamentals from a tender age. This rarely happens in Kenya. Most
Kenyan players grow up playing in dirt fields with no proper coaches and
with little or no organization. This is one reason why Kenyan players often
fail European trials and few have made it into Europe's top leagues.
If Kenya's top clubs were to establish proper schemes, Kenya could produce players who are refined in addition to being talented. And the country would soon take its place amongst Africa's elite teams. |
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| Most of Kenya's talent is being wasted due to lack of proper youth schemes |
One way to establish a youth scheme would be to partner up with a local boarding school. Talented individuals who excel at football and express an interest in pursuing a career can be recruited and offered scholarships to attend the school. The club should then hire a competent coach to train the players and instill proper fundamentals in them. By observing the players at close quarters for four years, the coach is more likely to be successful at producing refined players. In the 1980s, Motcom of Kakamega partenerd with local schools Musingu secondary school and Kakamega high schools and benefited from a constant stream of excellent players many of whom went on to play international football. The school was at the time coached by Chris Makhoha who was also a Mathematics teacher at the school.
Participate in Community Projects
Once a community club becomes financially stable, it should be able to engage in charitable activities and community projects as a way of giving back and supporting the community that built it. Again this is why it is critical that community clubs are not converted into private companies. The primary beneficiaries should not be a club owner but should be the people who support the club.