Polack: If Gor Mahia won KPL title, where is the trophy and prize money?

Steven Polack has refused to accept he won the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) title with Gor Mahia in the 2019-20 campaign.

K’Ogalo were declared champions of the last campaign after the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) moved to end the season prematurely owing to the effects caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

As such, Gor Mahia, who were sitting at the top of the table by then with 54 points were declared champions, while Nairobi City Stars and Bidco United were promoted to the top-flight from the lower league.

The move by FKF to crown Gor Mahia was, however, contested by KPL who said they had not ended the season and moved to court to protest the decision.

Polack has now told Goal he has never accepted to have won his first title as a Gor Mahia coach because he has not seen any trophy presentation nor the team receiving prize money which comes with winning the title.

“They are talking about the new season starting, but what happened to the old season?" Polack posed a question to Goal. “Where is the trophy? So without a trophy then you can’t say or tell someone that you won the league, isn’t it?

“They [FKF and KPL] need to come out somehow and tell us what happened, the only time I heard about it [Gor Mahia have won title] is three months ago when FKF said that Gor Mahia are champions.

“I insist I have to see the trophy first, I want to be associated with the trophy because we won the league, somebody can come and ask you did you win the league? Then you say yes, but another question from him will be, and where is the trophy? So how do you answer this person?

“They must come out and tell us what happened, it is like my associate in England is asking, did you win the league, I simply told him I don’t know. And that is it, I don’t know because we don’t have a trophy, nor do we have prize money for winning the trophy.

“What were the teams competing for? You play for trophies and financial gains, but is that the case in Kenya? My question would be if last season is over and if so, are Gor Mahia the champions and if so, where is the trophy and the financial award that the winner gets?

“If you say we won it, where is the trophy? I don’t think I am the only coach complaining, even if any other team had been declared league winners, they could be asking the same question…where is the trophy?”

Gor Mahia will carry Kenya’s Caf Champions League flag by virtue of being declared the KPL champions in the last campaign.