Korir hails stalwart Otieno as he retires, talks up Osotsi

Nairobi City Stars CEO Patrick Korir has hailed outgoing stalwart Wycliff Otieno for his immense contribution to the stab promotion from the National Super League in 2019 and a promising start to life in the subsequent season. 

Otieno who joined the team in mid-2019 from Nairobi Stima has called it a day after three illustrious years with Simba wa Nairobi and will join Mathare United’s technical bench as he plans on venturing into coaching. 

While praising his role in the team’s huge turnaround in fortunes following their challenges in 2018, Korir singled out Otieno’s discipline and impressive work ethic as traits that will placed him in good stead to have a successful career in management. 

“His character and discipline were key to his longevity in the league and he was one of the few players we relied on for player leadership.”

He formed a formidable partnership with Salim “Shitu” Abdallah at the rearguard that propelled the outfit to the 2019/20 title triumph after racking up 65 points ten ahead of runners up Bidco United.  

Korir says the door will be open for him to rejoin the team on a different capacity should an opportunity arise in future. 

“He has left us very well and after three years of dedicated service and for that we will always be grateful for impacting the history of the club positively. 

“We will always welcome him with open arms if an opportunity will come in the future.

Korir also lavished praise on rookie Elly Kessy Ososti following his impressive debut in City’s 1-0 loss against AFC Leoipards a fortnight ago. 

Osotsi clocked 38 minutes on his debut before giving way to Ronney Kola who went on to earn his fourth top-flight game.

Korir sees Osotsi as outgoing Wycliffe Otieno’s long term replacement given his tremendous upside capped by glimpses of his quality exhibited on his impressive debut. 

“Elly has the qualities to stay with us for the long term. At the moment we are taking our time to educate and develop him the right way so that he can gel well with rest of the team,” he added. 

Improvements by the youngster will be key to the team’s performances this season as they aim to shake off their poor start as they currently ranked 16th on five points from nine outings.