TC coach takes ‘compassionate leave’ from top Kenyan team

TURKISH Cypriot football coach Hassan Oktay has taken “compassionate leave” from the club he steered to the Kenyan Premier League title.

Hassan Oktay was appointed at Gor Mahia — also known as K’Ogalo — in December last year and five months later secured the championship, also becoming the first man to be named Kenya’s Coach of the Month twice in one season, winning the honour in February and April.

He revealed later that he had been inundated with job offers since taking the squad to a record 18th Kenyan title — his first major trophy — but said at the time he did not think it was “the right time” to leave.

“As the Gor Mahia family, we are fully behind Oktay as he seeks to deal with personal issues back home. We have given him a minimum of five days,” club CEO Lordvick Aduda told Kenyan website Game Yetu! on Wednesday.

The Turkish Cypriot coach paid tribute to the Kenyan giants saying the club would always remain in his heart — triggering fears among fans that he might have left the club for good.

He told the Goal.com website: “They [Gor] are the best club I have ever handled in my entire career and will always keep track with what they are doing even if I don’t return from my leave.

“I am not running away from duty . . . But for now I am faced with a number of family issues which have affected me and I cannot concentrate. I am really struggling to concentrate and I must go home to sort out the issues first before I know my next move.”

He was reported to have left Kenya on Tuesday, after saying: “I . . . will see if I manage to sort out the problems way in advance, then I will come back. If not, I will write to the chairman to ask him to get another coach.”

In the meantime Gor Mahia have called on injured striker Dennis Oliech to help assistant coach Peter Odhiambo train the side ahead of a Confederation of African Football Champions League preliminary round tie against Burundi side Aigle Noir in Bujumbura on Friday.

Mr Oktay, 57, who was born in Birmingham and is also a Finnish citizen, has spent most of his coaching career in the UK where he worked with West Ham and non-league teams, in addition to stints with Ghanaian, Thai and Finnish clubs.

Before moving to Kenya to replace Briton Dylan Kerr, he was assistant coach at semi-professional Braintree Town FC in Essex under another Turkish Cypriot, Hakan Hayrettin.