Former Harambee Stars coach Jacob ‘Ghost’ Mulee wants Football Kenya Federation (FKF) to retain the current technical bench.Mulee says the bench which includes; Francis Kimanzi as interim head coach, and assistants Zedekiah Otieno and John Kamau should be handed the responsibility to lead the team in the Africa Nations Championships (CHAN) to be held in August.Speaking shortly after the draw held on Wednesday night, Mulee advised FKF against hiring a new bench, saying time was not on our side.##NAJAVA_MECA_8633275##Despite the tournament being pushed to August, the celebrated coach said the process of hiring a new coach and creating room for him to study the league and its players will consume the remaining period of the preparation time.”It would be catastrophic to bring in a new coach right now since we don’t have a lot of time before the tournament. The new coach will need time to understand the players and the environment and before he has settled the tournament will be with us.I propose that let us retain the three men because they already understand the players and the environment and we just support them to do well,” he said.Ugandan and Tanzanian sports ministers petition CAF to rename CHAN 2024Mulee said he does not believe that a foreign coach can change much within a short period.He further expressed confidence that, despite being in a tough group, Harambee Stars can get out and make it to the second round after the first-round matches.“My experience with Stars is that they always do well when paired against tough opponents. When you expect them to win sometimes they don’t but when we do expect them to fail they always rise up and I am predicting the same will happen this time around,” he added.Stars are in group ‘A’ alongside Morocco, Angola DR Congo, and Zambia.Mulee has called for good preparations ahead of the tournament and urged the newly elected Football Kenya Federation (FKF) officials to ensure players remain motivated.Kenya placed in Group A of African Nations Championship“They have just been elected and therefore need a lot of support, especially from the government. The first step is to get money into the league to ensure that players are paid on time so that they can perform,” he added.Mulee is one of the few local coaches, who has ever taken Stars to the Africa Cup of Nations finals which he did in 2004.He also handled the team three years ago before Engin Firat took over at the helm.
