Shabana FC might not have secured top flight promotion were it not for some hardline stance taken by the club management and technical bench on their supporters early in the season.
Tore Bobe earned a return to the Football Kenya Federation Premier League for the first time since 2006 but it has now emerged that their biggest asset, the fans, almost killed that dream when they started questioning the composition of the team while demanding the inclusion of certain players.
While responding to a fan who sought to know why they do not post the team sheet on their official social media handles before matches, the club said it was down to the supporters’ intrusive behaviour which started creating division in the team, leading to poor results.
“We used to post lineups, people started viewing them from a tribal angle, fans also want their favourite players to start, it brought a divided dressing room and we started performing poorly. Ever since we avoided, we have a united dressing room with + results,” the club said on Twitter.
“Our aim this season was a direct KPL promotion. A united dressing room was the key to this. The technical bench advised so and we have seen the results.”
Shabana fans have been the backbone of the team in their promotion journey, turning up in large numbers to push them on with the club relying on gate collections and donations from well-wishers to sustain the playing unit.
