Former Harambee Stars head coach Jacob ‘Ghost’ Mulee has told the current boss Engin Firat to get used to criticism from all quarters.
Mulee said as a former Stars coach and a football fan, he has the right to speak his mind on matters affecting the team just like any other Kenyan.
“Firat is in the hot seat. If he wins, we are happy and we will talk; if he doesn’t perform, it affects us and we will still talk because Kenya is a democratic country,” said Ghost.
This comes after the Turkish tactician took a swipe at his predecessor ‘Ghost’ for allegedly criticising his tactics by questioning why he did not start a striker in their Afcon 2025 qualifier against Zimbabwe in Saturday’s barren draw in Kampala, Uganda.
“Now we have FKF elections and everyone makes propaganda including the ex-national team coach,” said Firat during the Namibia post-match press conference.
On tactics, Ghost said it’s not his job and he only gave his opinion as a concerned Kenyan. He further stated that Firat will one day leave the Stars job but that does not stop him from commenting on matters Harambee Stars.
“We were not brave enough to pick a striker. It is Firat’s tactics, I do not want to go into that but I do not think we were going to score at any given point without strikers,” said Mulee.
On a lighter note, Ghost said the Turk should thank him since his opinion saw him play John Avire and Jonah Ayungo up front, with the former scoring the opener against Namibia on Tuesday.
Ghost said he sympathized with Firat, who revealed he hadn’t been paid for the last nine months despite putting in a great shift.
“When I led Stars to the Tunisia 2004 Afcon. I hadn’t been paid for eight months cash amounting to Sh2.8million. Twenty years later, we still have payment problems, where are we headed to? To motivate coaches, we must pay them on time,” he added.
Ghost, however, said he has no intentions of launching a complaint at Fifa over money owed to him.
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