Kenyan Premier League defending Champions Gor Mahia are not leaving anything to chance as they prepare for the new football season.
Just a day after Hassan Oktay resigned as the manager of the club, K’Ogalo have secured the services of another manager from Europe. That man is Steven Pollack, a 58-year-old Finnish-English.
Gor Mahia informed their fans of the arrival of the new tactician through a post on their social media pages.
The club has set Friday as the day he will be officially unveiled as Gor Mahia manager.
BREAKING: The new Gor Mahia coach Steven Pollack has landed and will be unveiled within the next 48 hours. #Sirkal pic.twitter.com/AYvnTy3eJd
— ⚽️GOR MAHIA FC (@OfficialGMFC) August 7, 2019
Pollack is a former head coach of Ghanaian club Asante Kotoko and has coached several clubs in Europe and West Africa including FC Inter Turku in Finland as well as Berekum Chelsea FC in Ghana.
The 58-year-old is best remembered for guiding Berekum to the domestic cup title when they won the Ghana President Cup in the 2016/17 season.
The tactician was born in England but holds dual citizenship, English and Finnish. During his playing years, Pollack was a defender. He managed 10 clubs in Finland before moving to Ghana’s Asante Kotoko.
According to Gor Mahia club chairman Ambrose Rachier, Pollack had been on K’Ogalo’s radar even before Oktay came on board. Rachier said that the tactician was among the 50 candidates who applied for head coach position last year when Briton Dylan Kerr resigned but came third in the interviews.
The new coach will lead Gor Mahia in their CAF assignment this weekend against the Black Eagles in Bujumbura, Burundi this Sunday before hosting them next week at Kasarani. Dennis Oliech had been given the role of caretaker manager during the first leg of the match but he will turn up for the match as a player after Gor officially unveils Pollack.
Gor fans will be hoping that Pollack leads them to a fourth competitive KPL title even though the competition in the top tier might be more intense this coming season. His predecessor, Hassan Oktay, joined K’Ogalo last season and won the KPL title in the only season he was in charge of the club.
Pollack comes into a different environment as other clubs are focused to strip Gor Mahia of the title. Unfortunately for Pollack, he will not be having the services of Francis Kahata, Jacques Tuyisenge, and Harun Shakava who were key in Gor’s title-winning campaign last season.
The English-Finnish tactician will also battle with new league entrants Wazito FC who have invested a lot in their quest for the title. Wazito FC are among the title contenders next season because of their incredible run in the National Super League last season.
