From Grace to Grass?When one says a club has declined over the past one year, it is often easy to be swayed by emotions triggered by more recent results and fail to see the big picture. Therefore, when I was asked to give my opinion on why our club (Gor Mahia FC) has declined over the past season, I figured the first thing should be to look at actual results and confirm if this is true. Results of course don’t often tell the full picture; it is easy for a decline to be camouflaged by the fact that all else is around you are moving backwards. Looking at the past 3 seasons, after 22 games played one sees that while there was a drastic dip in the 2020/21 season compared to the 2019/2020 season, there’s been no much difference in terms of results on the pitch in the last 2 seasons.The first notable difference is our struggle to score goals that is probably the main reason that we have not managed to translate draws into wins. While we have posted fewer losses this season compared to last season after the same number of matches, we have scored 21 goals less than we had at the same stage in the truncated 2019-20 season. Put in context, in 2019-20 season we won 74% of our league games, in 2020-21 season we only won 44% of our league matches and in this season our winning rate is at 45%. Does this point to a lack of offensive assets in the team?For a team that had experienced the goal-scoring prowess of Jacques Tuyisenge, Meddie Kagere, Michael Olunga, Dan Sserunkuma and creative forces like Kenneth Muguna, Francis Kahata, Ali Abondo in the past, it is telling that the administration or scouts have not been able to put together a host of offensive talent like it did in the past. More so the calibre of foreign strikers being brought in by the club points to either a team that has no clue in recruiting talent or is involved in other shenanigans that has nothing to do with talent in recruitment.Off the pitch, there is a growing sense of fan apathy when it comes to following the club. One would imagine that having missed out on match attendance last season and the earlier part of this season due to Covid-19 restrictions, the enthusiasm of fans was further diminished due to performances that were not as inspiring. It is therefore baffling that one does not see any activity from the club officials in encouraging match attendance. It is as if because it is Gor Mahia, fans are simply expected to troop to the stadium and push the team as the famous 12th man.There are number of factors that bring fans to the stadium but among the key ones other than the results is the desire to watch star players and exciting football. During the team’s resurgence years around 2008-2010, it was a group of skilful youngsters, known as the Siang’a boys, led by a young George Odhiambo “Blackberry” and including the likes of Ibrahim Kitawi, Eric Masika, Kevin ‘Ade’ Omondi and Duncan Owiti “Macheda”among others that had fans thronging to the stadium regardless of the results. Later on the club had the likes of Rama Salim, Dan Sserunkuma, Michael Olunga, Meddie Kagere, Khalid Aucho, Jacques Tuyisenge, Godfrey Walusimbi, Francis Kahata and Karim Nizigiyimana among a whole lot of others to provide the much needed star power long associated with the club. Kenneth Muguna’s exit marked the end of premier players at the club and the club has not been able to attract the kind of names that would have one sacrificing whatever they are doing on a weekend to witness 90 minutes of bliss.This Gor Mahia lineup is sensitive,The management needs to improve on how they sign players 🙄Kogalo is a big club not only in Kenya but also in Africa pic.twitter.com/TfvkCveIQu— KATAMPE🇰🇪 (@katampekerempe) March 19, 2022 But are these issues confined only to Gor Mahia? Being the biggest club in the country, it is inevitable that all scrutiny will be on the club. However, the fact that Gor Mahia is facing its leanest period in the recent past, with perhaps its weakest squad since 2008 and is currently only 3 points behind 2nd placed Tusker FC says a lot about the league. The league still has some way to go and a run of poor results could see us go further behind but to be right in the mix with, or ahead of clubs such as Tusker, Bandari, KCB, and Ulinzi that are better resourced, enjoy stability and perhaps even with better squads speaks volumes about both the quality of the league and the resilience of the 19-time champions even when the chips are stacked against them.How can we quickly come out of this morass? That calls for another article but I have serious doubts if this is the right administration to lead us out of it.