Wazito offloads Kimanzi and other technical bench officials
Troubled Wazito FC have parted ways with their head coach Franci Kimanzi a year after his appointment.
It was not clear whether the former national team tactician was fired due to recent poor results by the team or if he opted out because of an unpaid salary.
The club is one of the clubs that has not paid their players and members of their technical bench salaries for the last three months and football rules state that if a player or a coach is not paid salary for three months, he or she automatically becomes a free agent.
The Football Kenya Federation Premier League side that spent heavily on recruitment in the last transfer window, confirmed parting ways with the veteran coach alongside other club officials including his assistants John Kamau and Jeff Odongo and the club’s goalkeepers’ coach Samuel Koko.
“We can confirm that head coach Francis Kimanzi, his assistants Jeff Odongo and John Kamau, and the goalkeepers’ coach Samuel Koko have left the club. We wish them well in their future endeavours,” the club’s statement read.
The departure of Kimanzi and some of his staff members comes after he clashed with the club’s owner Ricardo Badoer over alleged delayed payment of players’ salaries.
The club further revealed that Kimanzi will be replaced by their youth team head coach Fred Ambani who will assume first-team duties on an interim basis.
Kimanzi becomes the seventh coach to part ways with the league side in a span of two years.
The team that is currently struggling in the relegation zone, host Nzoia Sugar at Nyayo Stadium in a tricky league match that could either revive their quest for survival or add to their misseries.
A number of players in the team have already expressed interest in leaving the side after going for months without pay.
