The 2021/2022 Football Kenya Federation Premier League (FKFPL) season is only six rounds old but jitters already engulf a number of tacticians whose performances are falling short of expectations.Headlining this list of coaches facing the guillotine are two acclaimed trainers in the country.Robert MatanoThe 2010/2021 title winning coach with Tusker is in very unfamiliar territory having started off very poorly in this campaign.Matano has overseen Tusker’s poor start this season and might leave sooner than anticipated. Tusker have lost three of their five league matches and now sit 11th in the table, eight points behind leaders Gor Mahia.The 12-time champions were at the receiving end of a 3-0 score line last weekend leaving the decision makers at Ruaraka mulling a change, perhaps. Tusker was limply eliminated from the CAF Champions League by Zamalek and face another Carthage club, Sfaxien, in the Confederation Cup playoff.Matano inexplicably got rid of majority of players who won him the league last season and with that opened himself to criticism.It will be very easy to rid Matano out of Ruaraka as the fiery tactician is out of contract. The proposed renewal for another twelve months is yet to be signed by club management.Francis KimanziHe is touted as Kenya’s most educated coach. Armed with the famed KNVB certification, Kimanzi has treated Kenyan football to some of the most scintillating displays, most recently with the national team Harambee Stars before he was unceremoniously booted by FKF.He was hailed as the final piece of jigsaw that is Wazito FC when the Ricardo Badoer owned outfit drafted him mid last season. And after getting a free hand to sign his type of players, expectations shot through the roof.The results have, however, eluded Kimanzi and his band of pampered players at Wazito. The team is in red zone of relegation with a paltry two points after six games. They have mustered two draws against promoted Talanta and Kariobangi Sharks.In Kimanzi’s defense, Wazito’s losses have against some of the form teams this season; Kakamega Homeboyz, Nairobi City Stars and KCB with the exception of struggling Tusker. The tactician has FIFA international break to put things in order before facing record champions Gor Mahia upon league resumption.Ken OdhiamboThe Sofapaka tactician earned some reprieve last weekend when Joe Waithera’s strike gave Sofapaka three points at the expense of AFC Leopards. That was Sofapaka’s second victory of the season.The 2009 champions started the campaign depleted having lost their players while banned from signing new ones. They had a squad of fourteen players for their first few fixtures with key players missing from the team’s spine.Sofapaka has nonetheless, been a very demanding club with president Elly Kalekwa showing ruthlessness time and again while dismissing coaches with more acclaimed credentials and Odhiambo will be no exception when the flamboyant Congolese wakes up on the wrong side of the bed.John Bobby OgollaThe ‘six million-dollar man’ they praised him. That was way back in the eighties when he was trailblazing as Kenya’s international defender.His coaching acclaims have not attained level worth composing a song for and in promoting Police FC to the top-flight division Ogolla put himself on the pedestal towards coaching greatness.However, things are not going to plan for Ogolla and his troops at Police FC. The club spent heavily on new recruits to shore up areas of need with ex K’Ogalo duo of Musa Mohammed and Clifton Miheso headlining their signings.For all the hype and a moneyed shirt sponsor Ogolla and Police have just one win and a draw after six games. Insiders intimate that club managers are losing patience and might get rid of the jolly tactician should fortunes fail to change soonest.Ibrahim ShikandaThe Nzoia Sugar coach was hounded by fans last weekend after their latest loss in the premier league. A hermit by nature, Shikanda could be booted out of his job sooner than most as the club occupies 17th place in the league, an automatic relegation spot.##NAJAVA_MECA_5960223##Nzoia Sugar have just two points from six games and a major fallout between the technical bench and fans is indicative of sour relations with one probable casualty.Evans MafutaVihiga Bullets have lost five games and drawn once in six games of their premier league debut. Coach Evans Mafuta, thrust into the hot seat after shocking resignation of Edward Manoah who engineered their promotion is finding himself facing the sack from poor performance of the team.He has already been physically beaten by a man widely recognized as the club chairman. He is getting more alienated from team training and it is increasingly becoming clear Mafuta’s dismissal is a question of when and not if.Vihiga Bullets have soaked in sixteen goals and only scored twice. They have a single point out of a possible eighteen and occupy the very bottom spot in the league. Their fate back to the National Super League is sealed should they remain rooted to the relegation pit come end of the season.
