Leopards to hire local assistant for incoming coach Marin

Leopards to hire local assistant for incoming coach Marin

A local candidate will be the ideal choice for assistant coach at AFC Leopards as the struggling domestic giants look to steady their rocking ship for remaining phase of the Kenyan Premier League (KPL).

Whoever will be chosen will serve under Romanian Dorian Marin who was appointed to replace Stewart Hall with Dennis Kitambi who served in the capacity of assistant coach to resume his role as the club’s statistician.

According to Leopards CEO Ronald Namai, Marin is expected to arrive in the country over the coming week with personal terms, length of his contract and salary already finalised.

Fresh also indicate the departing Hall recommended the former Nalubaale and URA Romanian coach as his replacement.

Yet the task might have been also relatively easy for the Leopards hierarchy since Marin was among the top four tacticians who were shortlisted in December when Englishman Hall beat them to the job.

“We have agreed on how he will travel from Lebanon to Syria and then Kenya. He is supposed to connect from Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and then to Nairobi of which clearance should be a process,” Namai told Citizen Digital.

Namai reiterated their resolve to have a local assistant coach was to help Marin ‘understand the local game’.

“We are very careful this time so that we may not find ourselves facing the same problem we are now. We have very many people in Kenya who know Kenyan football and who understand the rivalry in our local games. We do not want to get embarrassed like we did when we played against Got Mahia FC,” Namai stated.

Marin, 57, will be expected to make barely any additions to the current Leopards set up with the management convinced Hall’s team has the ability to deliver results that would be desirable at the Den.

Marin brings a wealth of experience to the Den having managed a total of 10 teams since 2001 when he coached Syrian club Hutteen Sporting Club but finds a Leopards team devoid of confidence and hurtling towards relegation.

His immediate target will be a top four finish that already seems beyond their reach. He has also been asked to lead the Leopards to GOtv Shield Cup glory before they can have a shot at the league trophy next season.

Hall opted out of the Den after only six months in charge, citing family reasons for the rush exit but a string of poor performances in the KPL certainly did him no favours.

Under his reign, Ingwe enjoyed a promising start to the season before it all came tumbling down with a run of seven winless matches leaving 12th, just five points clear of the relegation zone.

Tags:

AFC Leopards KPL Kenyan Premier League football Stewart Hall Dennis Kitambi Ronald Namai Dorian Marin

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