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I am from the school of thought that believes time is now ripe for our great Club Bandari Football club to grace the continental stage yet again and make an impact.
The Confederation of African Football (Caf) Confederation Cup competition that our opponents Gor Mahia have been gracing lately, I feel is not a difficult proposition for Bandari after the guile and grit the team has shown to compete with the best at all stages.
Take for example the recently concluded SportsPesa Super Cup in Tanzania where Bandari came up against Singida and Simba Football Club whom they easily dispatched in front of their own fans.
Of particular interest, however, was the game against the dreaded Simba, arguably the team with the biggest following in the region. Bandari showed great composure reducing Simba which is endowed talent wise to minnows as they won 2-1.
To me this was a great show of intent that the club is ready to challenge the likes of TP Mazembe, Zamalek, Wydad Casablanca, Asante Kotoko, Al Ahly to mention but a few, for continental glory.
Am very much aware that all this comes with huge investment especially on the playing unit and it is for this reason that I would urge the management to consider beefing up the playing unit with players able to handle the pressure that comes with playing on the continental stage.
Bandari is on a very long journey football-wise, tapping and nurturing its own talent from Coastal clubs, but we must also agree that the team has definitely moved to the next level and cannot survive on this raw talent alone, thus the need to shop for big names, battle hardened stars who can handle pressure.
A simple case in point is the recent spate of injuries coupled with fatigue that affected the performance of the team allowing bitter rivals Sofapaka and Gor Mahia to pull away simply because our squad was overstretched.
Bandari is currently in the semi-finals of the SportPesa shield where they are slated to play SS Assad from Ukunda meaning if they go all the way and win the trophy then they will book a ticket to represent the country in the Caf Confederation Cup. There is, therefore, a need to start thinking ahead.
For a very long time Bandari has been the pride of the Coastal folk, with the demise of great coastal clubs most recently Coast Stars FC thus leaving the Dockers as the only hope for the coastal people.
There are moments when the team flirted with relegation, however we stood stoic as a great institutional club to weather all the storms to be one of the most feared and respected clubs in the local league.
KPA managing Director Daniel Manduku was indeed God-sent with his appointment mid last year coming with a lot of motivation to the dedicated playing unit which by all standards can pass for the most disciplined team in the league.
Whereas most Kenyan Premier League clubs are struggling to pay the players’ salaries let alone bonuses, Bandari promptly settles the salaries and also offers handsome match winning allowances.
It's time we stopped playing second fiddle and take the opportunity to grace the continental stage.
I can't wait for example to watch Bandari in Accra coming up against Asante Kotoko in the Caf Confederations cup next season.
