K. TeyaAFC Leopards legend Charles Okwemba questions Trucha's track record
Reading Time: 2min | Mon. 16.10.23. | 09:56
Leopards turned to the services of Trucha after sacking Tom Juma who had failed to register a win in opening six rounds of the season
Former AFC Leopards midfielder Charles Okwemba appears to have dismissed the ability of new coach Tomas Trucha to change the team’s fortunes around.
Trucha was handed the mandate to lead the team last week following the dismissal of Tom Juma.
Juma was shown the door six games into the new season after registering four draws and two defeats in the league.
Goalkeepers’ trainer Lawrence Webo and physiotherapist Bonaventure Odire were also shown the door.
The tactician is not new at the den. He served as Ingwe coach in November–December 2020 before fleeing, citing threats to his life and that of his agent, whom a section of Ingwe supporters accused of influencing the signing of substandard players at the club.
He joins the club from Malaysian side Kelantan United, a side he left in April 2023 after just over three months in charge of the club.
The team is currently 12th in a 14-team log. It is his performance in Malaysia that has Okwemba worried.
“He is a guy whose track record is questionable, and with all due respect, he has just come from a club that is languishing at the bottom of the Malaysian league, but I bet that the chairman knows better than I do,” he said in an interview with Citizen TV on Monday morning.
Okwemba also leapt to the defense of Juma, saying he was not given enough time to turn the tides around.
He accused the club hierarchy of bowing to undue pressure from the fans.
“The chairman talks so well of Tom Juma and the qualities that he had, and I think the club bowed to pressure and sacked Juma because there were calls to sack him from the fans. It beats logic because we expect quick results, yet in football, you are supposed to build something; you need to be given time, and I don’t think he was given the time that he needed".
On whether the tactician will do better than Juma, Okwemba, who is also the technical director at the National Super League side, Mombasa Elite, says it could go either way but believes the environment at the den is not conducive at the moment.
“I can’t bet on him being successful at AFC Leopards at this particular time, bearing in mind what is surrounding the club, but I can’t rule him out totally.".
Up next for the Leopards is a match against Bandari in Mombasa on Sunday afternoon.
