Shabana promise to take KPL by storm
Despite an unsolved dispute pending at the Independent Disciplinary and Appeals Committee challenging their promotion to the league, newly promoted Shabana FC are already eyeing a top three finish in the next Kenya Premier League season.
The club has already launched their home and away jerseys for the next season. Club chairman Jared Nivaton handed over the branded kits to their club top scorer Cornelius Juma.
“Early this year we convened at this very hotel to announce our ambition of joining the top flight league and I am extremely happy that we have achieved that dream.
“I thank the players for making it happen, and I hope that they will continue to do us proud as we target a top three finish in the league next season,” he said.
HOMEBOYS PROTEST
Shabana FC were recently handed the promotion documents after finishing top of the National Super League with 49 points, one more than their closest rivals Kakamega Homeboys.
But Kakamega Homeboys claim that they are the rightful Zone B champions and have an appeal pending at the Independent Disciplinary and Appeals Committee.
Homeboys are protesting the clipping of three points from their tallyafter a 2-0 win over Shabana FC. The club was penalised for allegedly having a suspended coach at the touchline during the match.
“We are the champions of our zone and that status we achieved by pure merit and I am sure that when our appeal is heard we will be declared the true winners because even the Shabana players can attest to the fact that the coach was not on the bench that day,” says Kakamega Homeboys team manager Francis Imbenzi.
Shabana FC chairman Nivaton however said that they will confound critics who claim the club was “assisted” by boardroom decisions to ascend to the league.
“A lot has been said about the team, but those are false opinions and we will prove all those critics wrong by putting up positive performances, and I promise that we will not be relegated any time soon,” he said.
RECRUIT PLAYERS
To achieve this, Nivaton said that they have commissioned the team’s coach Gilbert Selebwa to preside over the recruitment exercise that will see them bring in about 13 players with league experience, among them three foreign-based players.
“We have observed that most teams are relegated on their first season in the national league, so we will definitely beef up all departments of our squad so that we stand a fair chance against our future opponents,” he said.
Shabana’s kits are swirling red shirts inspired by the team’s catch line “Tore Bobe”, which in the Gusii language loosely translates to “we are bad”, but which has been adopted by the club to mean “We are fired up”.
The home kits will be dominantly red, while the away kits dominantly white.