It is 12:01 PM EAT.In one corner of the Java House covered by the lush trees on Limuru Road, 37-year-old Johnathan McKinstry confidently sits still in his chair, rocking a green Aston Martin cap, a sky-blue tee, khaki trousers and completes the look with a pair of clean Puma Future Rider sneakers.For a moment, he looks like the most unperturbed man on planet earth. The way Carlo Ancellotti normally does on the touchline with his Real Madrid side 2-0 down in a UEFA Champions League match.It has not been 24 hours since his Gor Mahia side let slip a two-goal advantage as they went on to draw 2-2 against Posta Rangers after a lackadaisical second half performance in their Round 25 fixture in the 2022/2023 Football Kenya Federation Premier League (FKFPL) campaign.Gor Mahia throw away two goal lead in frustrating draw against Posta RangersAnd with only nine games remaining, the result now means Robert Matano’s Tusker have a chance to reclaim top spot in the league and go a point clear should they win their game in hand, a choke up that could prove to be a costly slip in a thrilling title race where the record Kenyan league champions are out to end their two-year title drought.But still, McKinstry does not show any outward alarming sign of being worried. Not even an iota.“We have played some excellent football this season against Vihiga Bullets, Kariobangi Sharks, Sofapaka and Bandari but we just had a bad day in office against Posta. Even at half time when we led 2-0, I was not happy because the only reason we were ahead was that Posta did not defend crosses very well and we have got a very clinical striker. The level of performance was way below where it needed to be at if we are going to do something this season,” the head coach tells Mozzart Sport in his assessment of the game.Gor Mahia throw away two goal lead in frustrating draw against Posta Rangers pic.twitter.com/6EfWTtOlQ7— DAILY M- VIEW (@lawrencermacha) April 16, 2023 For the many who closely follow proceedings in the league, the two dropped points, especially when leading by two goals, felt like a recipe for disaster. Like a bottling job.But the fact that it even elicited that kind of reaction, showed how far K’Ogalo had come since the vastly experienced Northern Irishman arrived at the club back in July 2022 just before the start of the 2022/2023 season.In the last two campaigns before his acquisition, a once impregnable and revered Gor had finished a shocking eighth in the 20/21 season – twenty points behind champions Tusker – and ended up settling for third in the 21/22 season won again by Tusker.It had been the first time since 2011 that the 19-time Kenyan champions had finished outside the top two and had gone for two consecutive seasons without lifting the league title.Of Gor Mahia’s most recent League-winning coaches, who has been our most successful coach? #Sirkal— Tom Bwana (@TomBwana) August 8, 2019 And so when he came on board, McKinstry, who was for the first time handling an African club despite having carved out a name for himself following successful international coaching stints with Sierra Leone, Rwanda and the Uganda national teams, had his hands full at his new station.His task was not made any easier considering the fact that K’Ogalo were serving a FIFA transfer ban when he took over, leaving him with no reinforcements to a thin squad of 18 players in his gargantuan pursuit of trying to bring the fast fading glory back to the Kenyan giants.As if the challenges were not enough, the usual financial issues that had gotten the club handed a transfer embargo, once again hit right before the start of the season as a section of the 18 players downed their tools owing to non-payment of salaries, leaving the head coach a lot of head scratching, a split squad and insufficient player numbers during his first training sessions where he would ideally be laying down his ideas.Gor Mahia players are once again on strike over unpaid dues. On Thursday only nine players, majorly youngsters showed up at their Camp Toyoyo Ground.#FKFPL pic.twitter.com/YURT5xcflx— Ole Teya (@TeyaKevin) September 15, 2022 If it truly rained at Mahia, it poured. And McKinstry certainly bore an early brunt of what Kenyan, and at large African club football, could be like.“It has been quite a unique season right from the start. We came in with our eyes open. It was obviously a difficult challenge in the sense that the club was under the transfer ban, but I knew that. We thought even though there were other guys from the youth team, we might have 23, 24 players to pick from but then we came in and found out pretty late that we are only going to have 18, so that is a really narrow squad,” McKinstry opens up to Mozzart Sport.Delighted to be appointed Head Coach of @OfficialGMFC and looking forward to an exciting road ahead in Nairobi.#KOgalo #SirkalMore info at: https://t.co/2v527fxxUX pic.twitter.com/xECWdi5wE7— Johnathan McKinstry (@johnnymckinstry) July 29, 2022 “Compound that with the fact that there were some sort of issues regarding the sponsorship at the start of the season which are well documented. So it was not just the transfer ban. There were days in preseason training I will tell you, we only had like 8 players. We were struggling to even put an 11 together, we really were,And so to have come through that was really good for the players who experienced it because it built a bit of toughness and a bit of robustness to their mental strength because there were learning opportunities through it. But there is no doubt in that moment when you are maybe 4 weeks out from the start of the season and you have only 8 players in training, you know being competitive in the league seems a long way away,” the coach confesses as his almond croissant is served.##NAJAVA_MECA_7226375##Gor Mahia’s preseason form till that point left little room for inspiration as they only managed to collect one win from the eight matches they played against their fellow league sides, losing five and collecting draws in the other two.What was supposed to be a new dawn for the 19 time Kenyan champions was fast threatening to boil down into another potential fruitless campaign.But for McKinstry, a man who had gotten his first international coaching job with Sierra Leone at only 27 years of age, the most important thing during that turbulent period was progress over perfection and maintaining cool heads in the face of adversity. Calma.“Obviously I think everyone (rivals) got a bit excited in preseason that we were not winning games. We played a lot of matches and guys were saying that we were not winning too many of them. But we knew what we were trying to do. We knew we were trying to build and so we were rotating in order to know what players would be able to offer us the moment the league started. And I think from the very first whistle the guys have been steady the entire season,” the head coach explained.“Our form has been rock solid and consistent for the entire season and I think that is why we are where we are in terms of the title race. That is also why we are not getting too high or too low after any single result because we know over the course of the season we have been the most consistent team in the league,” he adds.Getting to coach K’Ogalo came like a perfect match moment for McKinstry whose idea of a coaching job fully aligned with the opportunity that presented itself at the Green Army.Having been out of work since his stint with the Uganda Cranes was brought to an abrupt end, the 37-year-old who led Uganda to the 2019 CECAFA title, turned down four better offers financially to link up with the 19-time Kenyan giants whose opportunity, according to him, was too perfect to turn down despite being advised otherwise.Gor Mahia chairman Ambrose Rachier during McKinstry’s unveiling.It was the first time he would be coaching an African setup. And despite receiving offers upto three times what K’Ogalo offered, money was not going to sway his ideals regarding what he wanted and felt connected to.“Leaving Uganda and coming here was about a year in between but there were options to get back in much sooner in different environments whether there were a couple of club opportunities to get back in or a few international opportunities. I even considered one or two things of maybe going back to English football as an assistant head coach because some of the guys I know have come up and are head coaches in their own right in the Championship, in League One et cetera. There was maybe some potential to go in there but ultimately none of them really excited me a huge amount,” he revealed.“I will be honest, in those last 12 months leading up to taking the K’Ogalo job, I turned down four offers, all of which were significantly more, financially, than this. Some of them were more than double and one of them was actually trebling what the offer was here. But I did not get excited about that. “In many ways, effective communication begins with mutual respect, communication that inspires, encourages others to do their best.”~Zig Ziglar🟢⚪#KOgalo #Sirkal @OfficialGMFC pic.twitter.com/VOYO25h0Lv— Johnathan McKinstry (@johnnymckinstry) September 8, 2022 I am really privileged in that football has given me a really good life and that I do not have to look at the number on the contract, so money is not necessarily a thing that excites me. I appreciate its importance in the world, do not get me wrong, I am not naive, but this was what I thought – it is a big challenge. I thought I could come in with my personality, my coaching quality and sort of start a flame that helps the club grow again. That helps us really catch fire again. I also just thought if I could be part of this club and win with Gor, it would be a really enjoyable period in my life. Also, I am a great one for football history as well. I love a club that has a story to it. Clubs that come from something and so the history of Gor Mahia, the history of the mythology around the club and its roots within the community in Western Kenya is fantastic,” the coach reveals on his decision.“So, it was just very much I felt it would be fun, I felt it would be challenging and I felt I would be fulfilled coming and doing the job here. I am someone who puts everything into it. I will live and die for the players, I will protect them like they are my children. I will work night and day to try and improve what is happening at that club because I feel a responsibility,” he adds passionately.In a world so often moved by figures on contracts, it did not take long to realize the weight beyond those words from McKinstry who had taken it upon himself, like Jose Mourinho, to make it to the very top despite having limited professional playing experience.His family line had been renowned for motorsports in Europe and Britain – McKinstry Racing. But the Northern Irishman chose to tread on a different path.From around the age of eight, the young boy, with the influence of an uncle who worked as a program editor for Distillery FC where the great Martin O’Neill started his career, fell in love with the game.Martin O’NeillAlways by his uncle’s side on matchdays like a bow and arrow, a young McKinstry would religiously watch 40 to 50 games per season in the stadium and well over hundreds of matches in person that only stoked his curiosity.The seed planted in him by his uncle continued growing and McKinstry found himself trying his luck when he got on with playing in the junior levels.For him to however emerge successful in that path, a herculean task awaited as he had to be among the best in order to make an impression on the big teams such as Manchester United, Liverpool, Rangers and Celtic which were the only ones scouting in Northern Ireland at the time.But his level was not just anything spectacular to wonder at. And so he found himself accepting reality very quickly.The Audacity of Dreams: This is the story of Emmanuel ‘Otis’ Pala“I was a moderate youth player. I was okay. I played in some good youth teams in Ireland growing up and one or two of the guys I played with went on and did okay whether it was in the Irish league or abroad. At the time Ireland did not have a pro league and so by 16 you had to be good enough to go to England or Scotland because the only teams who were scouting were the big teams from Manchester United, Liverpool, Rangers, Celtic. It was no that you had to be good enough to play for Burnley, you had to be good enough to play for Manchester United, which I was not good enough to play for,” he admits.But to cover for his shortcomings, McKinstry’s early exposure to the game would set him up for his ultimate desire to be a coach as it gave him a tactical understanding few kids had that early on.All those years watching as a fan made him have a picture of what was happening in the field and how to solve football problems. And naturally, it started rubbing off on him so much so that by the time he got to choosing potential career paths, only one idea was on his mind.EXCLUSIVE: From a street kid to a lethal striker – this is the inspiring story of Josphat Lopaga“It was very obvious from the age of maybe 15,16 that coaching was going to be a route I would go down just because of how opinionated I was in terms of how the game should be played. I have a very clear memory of sitting with career guidance teachers with a computer program where you would fill answers to questions about yourself and my potential career options came as a PE teacher and a sports coach,” he says.By this time, backed even by intelligent computer programs that matched his desires, a determined McKinstry needed no further illuminating sign on what to do for the rest of life.It was all football or nothing.”I believe in the Scottish proverb: Hard work never killed a person. People die of boredom, psychological conflict and disease. They do not die of hard work”~ David Ogilvy#BetterThanYesterday #EffortApplicationDiscipline #MondayMotivation 📷@XtraTimeSports pic.twitter.com/HngKQGBz6N— Johnathan McKinstry (@johnnymckinstry) July 11, 2022 And the 16-year-old kickstarted his coaching journey by doing the lowest levels of coaching with the Irish Federation.“I went and did my work experience with the Irish FA. For like 2 weeks I was just shadowing a coach in the primary schools coaching little kids. It was what you would consider like the CAF D license here and that allowed me to go and coach after school and earn a little bit of money. I coached 8 year olds and earned around $10 for one hour of coaching which was better than working in a supermarket and so I really enjoyed it,” the coach reveals about his beginnings.At that moment, the way to become a coach was by going down the conventional route of playing, retiring then becoming a manager.But since McKinstry was not going to have that, his teachers, who were probably just looking out for him, greatly tried talking him out of the career option. Only for them to fail terribly while at it.20 yrs ago this month I began my journey as a coach on a placement w. @IrishFA Over time, working w. talented players & committed colleagues, we have consistently delivered improvements & achieved success To date it has been a remarkable journey & we are not yet halfway done pic.twitter.com/P8Mnuit63L— Johnathan McKinstry (@johnnymckinstry) March 15, 2021 “In my head I was not going to be convinced that someone who had no medical knowledge could become a top surgeon by training, practicing and then qualifying when I knew more about football at age 16 than the future brain surgeon knew about surgery by 16.It just did not seem logical that this door was closed yet the road to becoming an astronaut, becoming a brain surgeon, or whatever was open. I knew if I trained and learnt all of the intricacies of the game, then it could be done. And so that is what I set about doing,” he said.As a result, the coach would then go on to study sports science with coaching in his bid to get the requisite knowledge. And it is after completing his course that he would get a fantastic opportunity to join the New York Red Bulls Academy in New York to start pursuing his dreams.“In university, I was coaching 3 different teams. I was coaching the under 16 side, the university team and for Newcastle United in the schools program. So I had three jobs as well as going to study. Out of that is when I went to New York and was coaching 25 hours a week at the Academy level for the New York Red Bulls and it was just a constant,” he tells Mozzart Sport.What would follow would be an insatiable quest for gaining more and more knowledge about the game.Armed with the resolve that had seen him choose the football path all by himself, the tactician sought papers to cover up for his deficiency of not having the playing career others had.“I did my Bachelors Science degree when I was obviously 18 to 21. I got my B license when I was eighteen, got my A license when I was 23, 24. I then went and did my pro license when I was like 29. Beyond that, I did a Master’s degree in performance coaching, did a Master’s diploma in football management and did a postgraduate certificate in high impact leadership.Over recent months there have been numerous opportunities for personal growth.One that I chose to pursue was the thought provoking ‘High Impact Leadership’ course with @cisl_cambridge.A great experience & excellent to receive this today ahead of our international restart.. pic.twitter.com/eAl3vXEA8x— Johnathan McKinstry (@johnnymckinstry) September 28, 2020 I constantly have known that I need more. Why? Because I do not have this other thing, this professional playing background. I never did that and I will never get the chance to have that. And so often when I assemble technical staff, I like to have people around me who have big experience as players to draw upon,” he explained.His time at the New York Red Bulls Academy would stretch almost just three seasons where he got to work with the best 10 to 15 year olds the country had to offer.Current USA team captain Tyler Adams, who plies his trade for Leeds in the English Premier League, Borussia Dortmund’s Gio Reyna and his brother Jack Reyna, who unfortunately passed on, were among the key names he got to work with in his first job after university.Tyler Adams“It was a huge experience for me being 22, 23 years old and to be working with such talented young players, but also in an environment like Red Bull which has extremely high standards,” he says.“Some of the guys here sometimes think I am a little bit strict on certain things, but they are all about standards. You cannot be late, you know? Do not wear the wrong kit. Be professional. Are you prepared for the day? Red Bull instilled that in me,” he adds.Long after serving for almost three years in the USA, his first foray to Africa would come calling when his services were sought after to lead the setting up of a football academy in Sierra Leone which would be the first of its kind in the West African nation on a technical director role.It was a ride that was only supposed to see him help in developing young players in the country. But when ebola hit, McKinstry, who had stayed in the country for three years now, was appointed interim manager of Sierra Leone following the resignation of Swedish coach Lars-Olof Mattsson, making him the youngest active international head coach in world football.Strength of a woman: Meet the madam driving Posta Rangers team busHis stint that was initially to just see the country through the three remaining 2014 World Cup qualifiers, was extended and the coach was subsequently retained through to the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers before being shown the door.“I consider myself really privileged that at 27 years of age I got handed a team. We were struggling at the time, but we only needed a few small tweaks to unlock their potential. Because these were guys playing for Celtic, Middlesbrough, Bolton, who were in the Premier League at the time, for Norwich, AC Milan, Malmo and Chicago Fire in the MLS – a great team.To get handed that at 27 and then for us to do the changes that needed to be done in order to rocket up the rankings was a dream first job.I think in total it was just like 9 or 10 games and we won half of them. When I took over we were like 91 or 92. On the day I left the job, we were 50, and that is still their highest ranking ever,” he revealed.In new episode I speak with Sporting SAIF manager @johnnymckinstry tells me:-why he left NY Red Bulls to work in Sierra Leone-why his team in Bangladesh practices at 7 am-managing expectations as a coach-the time Yaya Toure checked his team’s passportshttps://t.co/vSKQC2yU0V pic.twitter.com/z2Srm2NXzZ— This Football Life (@ThisFootballLif) March 27, 2019 Rwanda would come calling in March 2015 and in his first competitive game in charge, the gaffer guided them to their first away win in four years with a 0-1 victory over Mozambique in the opening round of the 2017 AFCON qualifiers.The brilliance of the coach would continue to be on display in December 2015 when Rwanda finished as runners-up in the regional CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup, defeating hosts Ethiopia, reigning champions Kenya, and previous tournament runners-up Sudan en route the final before losing 1–0 to Uganda – the most successful team in the region – who claimed their 14th title in a competition where McKinstry was named coach of the tournament.In January 2016, he led the Amavubi Stars to the knock-out stages of a major competition for the first time in their history when he guided them to a first-place finish in Group A of the 2016 edition of the CAF African Nations Championship (CHAN) and qualification for the quarter finals where eventual Champions DR Congo would halt their run following a 2–1 loss after extra time in Kigali.Coach of the TournamentJohnny McKinstry (Rwanda) #CECAFA2015— Soccer Ethiopia (@SoccerEthiopia) December 5, 2015 “I was pleased I went to Rwanda. We had a good time and achieved some stuff that had not been done before. Obviously had never never been out of the group stages of a big tournament. We got to the quarterfinals of CHAN and we were runners up in CECAFA when we were predicted to maybe only get to the quarterfinals. So to get to the final and lose 1-0 to Uganda but get a silver medal for that team was a bit of an achievement because nobody expected it,” he reminisced.Stints in club football in Lithuania and Bangladesh with Kauno Zalgiris and Saif respectively would follow in 2017 and 2018 before Uganda snapped him up in September 2019.Angella Okutoyi – Tennis barrier breaker who rose from a children’s orphanage to the Grand SlamAfter just one year, he guided the Cranes to victory in the 2019 CECAFA Cup – his first major accolade, winning all 6 games throughout the tournament.However, a shocking four months later, it was confirmed by the Federation of Uganda Football Association (FUFA) that McKinstry’s 18 months at the helm of the Uganda Cranes would come to an end.“It was strange, I would say. Unfortunately, in the world of football not all decisions are based on football and look all I can look back on is with Uganda is that I was in charge for 18 matches. In 18 games, to win 12, draw three and lose 3 and to win a trophy in there is not a bad run,” he says.McKinstry poses with CECAFA titleAll along the three international runs, McKinstry lived through it all. Soaking and drenching himself in the football world to make himself a better coach and better at this thing called soccer that has consumed almost his entire existence.Since arriving at K’Ogalo, his hard work is evident to see and his assistant Michael Nam, who spends time by his side as the two try to break down their opponents, has touted the coach to return the club where it belongs.“What I must say is we are doing well as a club at the moment and the working relations between McKinstry and all the other coaching staff is good. He is a workaholic because each and every morning when he wakes up he wants the team to do well. He has good ideas being that he is also a modern coach. I think with that perspective, he will manage to take the team to the next level,” the UEFA B licensed coach observed.Current team captain Philemon Otieno lauded the Northern Irishman for his playing philosophy and for the care he showed his players and how he keeps pushing to get the best professional standards from them.”McKinstry has brought new ideas to the team and has brought a lot of professionalism which has really helped us a lot. As a person he is a very good guy who makes the players feel their affairs are well taken care of,” he told Mozzart Sport.Challenges might have threatened to destroy his beginnings, but McKinstry, his staff and players just about managed to wriggle themselves out of trouble to ignite flashes of the K’Ogalo that was once known to dominate.While only six games now remain with a four-point buffer opened at the top over Tusker following subsequent matches played, a calm McKinstry knows that getting over the line is the ultimate desired goal.Gor Mahia fans applaud the team after victory © Gor MahiaBut the vastly experienced tactician also knows his legacy will not just be determined by short-termism and unwarranted instant gratification.”I think there are so many tough games to come and tough games are not just against your rivals. Ours is always to do better and if you continue to do better, you will eventually get a reward for it. We just need to keep doing what we are doing. We have got to try and fill that trophy cabinet again, whether in the immediate future or the medium term.I also want to lay the foundations for the team that will play here for the next several years by creating a conveyor belt of talent where every youngster will want to only join Gor Mahia. I would also try to leave the club in a stronger place than I found it. But no matter what we do off the field, none of that will matter if we do not win the KPL,” the gaffer concluded.
