Zachary Gathu has quit football twice, or perhaps more times than that. He has lost count. But he does recall two times he came back, and the two people who were hell bent on pulling him out of oblivion. He mans the midfield for Anthony Akhulia’s Bidco United presently and last season, he says- certitude all over his face- was his best ever.‘’I had the single most perfect season with Bidco when I came back, to be more precise, when Augusto Ochieng pulled me out of retirement. ‘I cannot let you retire while this young’, he said. When someone like that tells you he’s coming back too, you have to listen. We’ve had a hell of journey with him Augusto,’’ Gathu recounts.He implies the five years the two another third wheel Dennis Gicheru, have roamed the country’s second tier. Their business was just one, the business of promoting teams into the top flight. In just three years, the trio would see Wazito climb up twice, and KCB Football Club once. Ochieng missed the third stint with a compound fracture that effectively- so people thought- shut him out of professional football. I understand Gathu when he recalls that when such a man calls you and tells you he’s returning, pesters you to return too in fact, you have to hear them out. Talented in football and music – this is the story of Enock WanyamaA one-day trial session at a newly promoted Bidco had the duo hopeful of making a comeback. Ochieng, unfortunately couldn’t last the entire week’s training session and answered a call from Mathare United who, Gathu recalls, offered him a ‘direct ticket’. Gathu made it, Ochieng made it on the other end too. Both were back in business, but not together, no chance for a final ride like the old days.The second man who plucked Gathu out of early retirement is Frank Ouna, at the time handed the reins at Wazito and looking to build a name for the club. A name that pops up in his head is, Gathu. The two had been together at Gor Mahia three years before. It’s the 2017 National Super League season but more importantly, it’s a vintage Wazito side. I know you remember, the one that would travel to western province and play local sides in December. Yes that one, that couldn’t break the bank yet. It’s here in Kakamega during the testimonials that the then boss at Wazito Solomon Alubala sees Gathu for the first time, insists that they bring him in. Ouna is happy, and he will not regret recalling the midfield dynamo out of retirement two seasons later.The lad impressed the don despite months of unfitness. ‘’I never wanted to come back, gave all types of excuses. But Ouna, he was hell bent on having me back. Said he’d personally work on bringing my fitness levels back. He is a fitness guru so I said why not?’’ says Gathu. He did return the favour so he believes. ‘’There wasn’t much in the team then, we just played for the badge and within two seasons, gained promotion,’’ he adds. A kindness perhaps well returned, only he wouldn’t play at the top level. It was coach John Kamau who called just as soon as Wazito climbed up. He wanted all three at KCB at the beginning of the 2018 campaign. ‘’Gicheru, Eshiwani and myself had done ourselves well to earn Wazito promotion and another challenged beckoned. After all, there were new players coming in and we believed they would hold forte while we offered help once more in the second tier. So off we went,’’ narrates Gathu.Unbeknownst to many, Coach Kamau had signed Gathu and Jerry Santo at Posta Rangers ahead of the 2014 National Super League season. He, like a few before him, had been shown the door before the season began. A season that would see coaches Zedekiah Otieno and George Maina take turns at the helm with the Mail Men, with the latter actually guiding Rangers into the top flight. Gathu himself, had left though- sent out on loan to Thika United. In hindsight, he believes he would be a proud possessor of four NSL medals presently. But he had his reasons for moving to Thika.‘’There was no playing time, plenty of coaching changes, I had to ask for a transfer. I retained my job at the Postal Corporation but requested to be transferred to Thika,’’ he recounts.Back at KCB coach Kamau would not even be the one on the touchline when the bankers earned promotion at the end of the 2018 season. Second behind Western Stima, five points astray of the champions would be coach Elvis Ayany, a club veteran. For coach Kamau, the ghosts of the past had done him a discourtesy. The trio, however made it to the end. Gicheru even scored on the final day against FC Talanta. Ochieng ended it with a fracture. Only two soldiers remain standing when Wazito once again, called them. In the previous year, they had found themselves back in the second tier again, but this time, money had finally arrived at the side and they desperately wanted to clamber back up. ‘’Wazito is home. Every time I think about my football, I know it’s that first recalling from Ouna at Wazito that turned things around for me. It was Mr. Alubala who called the second time after we have helped KCB gain promotion, and I straight up said yes. Gicheru and myself would heed the call, go back home and do what we do best. This time we only needed one season, and we came back to the premier league,’’ Gathu modestly narrates.Lightening, but for all that, would still hit the same place twice. Gathu would have knee surgery on August 1, 2019, Gicheru would have his on August 2nd. The promotion warriors had finally been knocked out – conceivably- by career threatening injuries. Upon return, and eager to join the top flight-finally, Gathu would be let go. Gicheru stayed.‘’Powers that be,’’ that’s what they told me. ‘’I was nearing return when this happened and I thought to myself, if this is it, I’m totally not coming back to football. I quit.’’The Covid-19 pandemic was at infancy when Gathu’s second coming at Wazito ended, and all sporting activities impeded. Perhaps this was the sign, he says, to end it all and focus on business. For close to 9 months, it was all good, all hustle, no pressure. But Ochieng had other ideas as he gradually rose to his feet and sought out an old friend. Kenyan defender named in CAF Champions League Team of The Week‘’I have to say it did take a lot of convincing from him just to head out for the Bidco United trials. This time, my mind had completely switched off from football. Looking at how bravely he had battled that fracture and come back, I honoured the call. That’s how I found myself playing the best football of my life,’’ Gathu, a present day first choice for Akhulia’s Bidco, says.Gicheru has since risen to a managerial role at Wazito, holds the CEO’s position. Ochieng after his spell at Mathare, bowed out to focus on business. Gathu it seems, playing at peak levels right now, is the last man standing. These three roamed through teams in the second tier and oversaw three promotions in three years. On the surface, a tightly knit community of friends at the top of their game, but beneath the surface, Gathu says it takes a larger community to achieve what they did.‘’It has to be the entire spirit of the team to come out top and earn promotion. Those three times, it was the common ingredient whether at KCB or at Wazito. The entire team has to want to climb up, from the management to the club officials and the the players. In other words, the surrounding has to be always right,’’ he concludes.He declines to reveal when he intends to hang-up his own boots, but he’s sure of one, at the moment, he is playing his very best football. He his a man gracefully growing out of the game after years or service.
