AFC Leopards’ year review: Good riddance to 2023

For the Ingwe fans, this season could well end up as one of those “I was there” moments- something you talk about with friends in years to come, albeit through a shudder. “Yes, that really happened.”

The 12-time FKF Premier League champions finished seventh on 51 points, 19 adrift of the champions Gor Mahia in the 2022-23 season and also lost 2-1 to rivals Kakamega Homeboyz in the FKF Cup semi-finals to sum up an underwhelming year.

This is AFC Leopards’ sixth year in a row without a trophy and they tasted their last glory in 2027 when they defeated Kariobangi Sharks 2-0 to lift the FKF Cup.

To add salt to the wounds, their bitter rivals Gor Mahia clinched a record-extending 20th FKF-PL title this year while AFC Leopards’ last league glory was 25 years ago.

Aussems break-up

As the team was licking their wounds after a poor campaign and with a focus to reinvigorate again, another setback hit the club when head coach Patrick Aussems announced he won't be extending his stay at the den on July 10, citing personal reasons.

“For personal and private reasons I won’t be able to renew my contract with AFC Leopards! Thanks to my players, my staff, and the incredible fans for the last 2 years! I wish Ingwe all the best! Asante sana!” he tweeted.

The 57-year-old tactician had joined the club in February 2021, having previously been in charge of Tanzanian giants Simba, who he led to a league title and the CAF Champions League quarter-finals in the same season.

Three days after he announced his departure, the club, through the National Executive Committee (NEC) issued a statement indicating that Aussems failed to extend his stay at Leopards due to health and private reasons but there were reports the Belgian had demanded a pay rise as part of his new contract developments.

"We take this opportunity to formally announce that head coach Patrick Aussems has made the difficult decision not to renew his contract due to health and private reasons that he has shared with the club's management," part of the statement by AFC Leopards' NEC read.

The departure of Aussems saw his assistant Tom Juma land the role of leading the team, his first time to rise to the rank of a head coach.

Juma, who is also a Leopards legend, had been at the club for almost eight years, serving in different capacities.

“I do not think much has changed because I have been part of this technical bench for a while now, and so it is just continuing with the work that we have been doing for all these years. The Leopards ambition every season is to win titles, and that is what we will try to do in the coming season. A season that ends without a title is regarded as a failure,” Juma said after he was announced by Leopards.

Poor start to the 2023-24 season

The team kicked off the 2023-2024 FKF Premier League season on the wrong footing with six matches winless run costing Juma his job just two months after he took over.

 Juma had been under fire from the club’s supporters due to the team’s poor performance and he left the side languishing 17th on the log with only four points.

During his short stint, Leopards suffered defeats to KCB (1-0) and Gor Mahia (2-0). They had drawn with FC Talanta (0-0) , Muhoroni Youth (0-0), Kenya Police (2-2) and Shabana (1-1).

After his sacking, Juma blew the lid off on what he said was ailing the club saying there were deeper problems at the team that were hurting its chances of competing against the best, vowing he would not be silenced.

"This thing called cartels is a big disease eating up and killing this team. I will not expound much on it but they are killing this team for sure. There is a committee that was formed to recruit players, something that I have never seen before.

“As a coach you need to have a say in the type of players a team is signing because of your style of play and how you would want to fit certain players into your system. If that is not the case then there is a big problem,” Juma said then.

He insisted he was being used as a scapegoat and that his sacking was a mere attempt by the Leopards hierarchy to sweep Leopards’ problems under the carpet.

"For sure it has been a good experience but unfortunately things didn't go as we planned due to these challenges. You go to the training ground and train with the players but a lot of new players, about 20 from different teams who needed time to gel.”

Leopards reappointed Czech Republic national Tomas Trucha following the sacking of Juma with the former returning to the den for a second stint after he agreed a two-year long deal.

The UEFA Pro coaching licence holder briefly worked at Leopards late in 2020 before quitting under unclear circumstances even before he could take charge in a competitive match.

In a raft of changes, former captain Bernard Mang’oli returned to the team in the capacity of team manager while Haggai Azande and Joshua Caleb Osir took the positions of goalkeeper coach and assistant physiotherapist respectively.

Trucha was tasked with helping the team arrest their poor start to the season but he has not been able to turn around the season with only two wins under his name as the team lie 14th on the log with 15 points, 19 behind leaders Gor Mahia.

Leopards’ first season win came on October 29 when they beat Nzoia Sugar 1-0 at Sudi Stadium before stunning Kakamega Homeboyz 2-1 at Nyayo Stadium on December 17.

“They are players that I'm confident and know are going to start giving us good results,” said the club’s secretary general Gilbert Andugu.

 “The current playing unit has no salary arrears and all their winning allowances - which is only two matches won- have been cleared by the management.”

At the same time, Andugu said the team took time to gel due to the many signings the club made in the summer transfer window as well as changes in the technical bench.

“As you know we had a transfer ban of players and also coaches have been changed from Aussems (Patrick) to Tom Juma but because there was too much pressure from fans for results we had to bring in Thomas Trucha.”

His sentiments were echoed by chairman Dan Shikanda.

“Remember last year six of our players were not registered and so we have all of them available after joining the squad, we have also signed 12 new players to bolster our squad”, Shikanda said adding that the Covid-19 era also hit the club hard.

“We were in this position because of the setbacks the world had in Covid-19 and also when our sponsors left.”