Revealed: Trucha resigns as AFC Leopards coach after life threats

AFC Leopards head coach Tomas Trucha has resigned following threats on his life, Goal can report.

Trucha’s resignation comes after the club’s chairman Dan Shikanda claimed a few members had resorted to threats towards the coach and his agent.

A close source at the club has now revealed to Goal that the former Orapa United head coach has left the club and Anthony Kimani, his hitherto assistant, is set to take charge.

This will be the second time Kimani is taking over the club on an acting capacity as he had to fill the void when the former Rwandan head coach Casa Mbungo left in December 2019 citing financial struggle.

“It is true Trucha has resigned,” the source stated on Thursday.

“He left on Wednesday following numerous threats on his life and the people around him. The coach felt the environment had become so poisoned and thus he could not go on with his job.

“Trucha had good intentions for the club and his efforts to turn AFC Leopards into a strong side had already been felt. But some people, it seems, were not happy with what was happening.”

Shikanda had stated the coach's issue was a serious matter that they had even planned to engage the police.

“There is a serious issue with the coach,” Shikanda told reporters on Wednesday. “We shall do a press conference on Thursday and from here we will go and organise to get the nitty-gritty.

“We are taking the threats seriously and we shall write a statement with the police. We are handling that because the coach feels he is not safe.

“He is in Kenya to help us and add skills to the team.”

The chair also claimed the said members have a major target of rocking the club due to the good job done by the National Executive Committee.

“It is unfortunate that some people who call themselves our members are trying to destabilise our team. They have seen us doing well and they are surely not happy," he added.

“We have beaten Tusker in the first match and there are no comments on our social media pages had we lost that match, you could have seen a lot of negative comments.

“But we know we have people who masquerade as AFC Leopards' members and fans but in the real sense, they are not.

“They are trying to kill the club and are trying to kill the work that the National Executive Committee has done.”

Ingwe will host Football Kenya Federation Premier League debutants Bidco United on December 6 for the second tie of the season.