Bonface Osano
Despite securing a shirt sponsorship deal with gaming firm Betsafe worth Kshs55 million per season for the next three seasons, Gor Mahia are still far from being financially stable.
The club currently owes players and technical team five months salary plus other allowances.
This could baloon even further as the sponsorship money will not reflect in their accounts till football activities return.
Football activities were suspended in the country in March to help curb person to person spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“With no football being played currently, we have nothing to give them back in terms of visibility, so they will only pay us when football returns,” said Gor Mahia chairman Ambrose Rachier.
With a wage bill of over Kshs 5million per month, the club will have to take drastic measures to live within their means.
According to Rachier, among other options they are exploring to ensure the club gets out of the red is to cut their bloated wage bill.
Presently Gor Mahia have 35 players, most of which have never played for the club.
“We want to bring our wage bill down to manageable levels of at most Kshs3 million per month,” said Rachier.
Rachier has also urged fans to register as members so that they can be able to directly support the club financially.
“In Europe, most clubs are being run by fans through membership, they directly contribute towards running of their clubs, this is what we want to cultivate here.”
Apart from the shirt deal, Gor Mahia early this year signed a kitting deal with UK sports apparel maker Umbro.
The deal guarantees the club full kitting plus replica jerseys for fans to buy, giving the club another avenue for generating money.
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