The British coach has told off those calling for the top-flight to use play-offs to decide the winner if the league resumes
Gor Mahia coach Steven Polack is against the possibility of using play-offs to decide the winner of the 2019-20 Kenyan Premier League (KPL) season should the campaign resume.
The Kenyan top-flight, which was suspended in March owing to the coronavirus pandemic, was ended by the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) who went ahead to declare Gor Mahia champions as they were leading the table with 54 points.
The decision by the FKF did not go down well with a number of stakeholders and clubs in general, with Kakamega Homeboyz - who were second on the log, seven points behind K’Ogalo but with a game in hand - insisting the league should be played to the end or a play-off involving the top four teams used to decide the champion.
On the other hand, the KPL has also maintained the FKF does not have the authority to end the league and that the fate of the top tier will be decided on May 18 when the curfew imposed by the Kenyan government elapses.
The British coach has now rubbished calls for play-offs and asked those advocating for it to follow the rules.
“I don’t understand a lot of people putting their own opinions in regards to the league, others saying it unfair to award Gor Mahia, others saying we should do this, we should do that, others like we should have a play-off, football is about a league and not a tournament,” Polack told Goal on Monday.
“The football is a league game and not a tournament, it is not a tournament, it is a league and so if we get it cancelled then we have it cancelled and everyone should agree to that but unfortunately there are always two or three people who want to take the association to court because they have made the decision to cancel the league.
“At the end of the day we must understand when you have a football league, you have a meeting before the season kicks-off and like it is done all over the world, you have representatives from each clubs, and the rules are set, the rules are there and if you are not happy with the rules, then change them before the league starts, but not wait later on to shout, lets come and change this and that.
“You don’t need to wait for something to come up in the middle of the season and then you start making noise, what is that?
"That is very confusing to me. It is like in the football field, a player handles the ball on the other side of the box and the referee gives a free-kick and if he handles at the opposite end, the referee will give a penalty.
"A rule is a rule and you cannot fight rules, they are set up for a reason and the rules are there to be followed.
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"So where in FKF do we have a rule saying we go for play-offs if the league is cancelled?
"I don’t think we have such rules, it is ridiculous people saying we go for a play-off, we don’t have such rules to guide us to have such.”
While the FKF has already forwarded Gor Mahia's name to Caf as the country's flag bearers for the Champions League, the KPL has written to the same body protesting the decision.
Source : Football News, Live Scores, Results & Transfers | Goal.com
Polack: Gor Mahia coach against play-offs to decide KPL winner
Polack: Gor Mahia coach against play-offs to decide KPL winner