Kenya rebuts criticism of former coach Put

NAIROBI, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Football Kenya Federation (FKF) on Monday dismissed claims made by Belgian Paul Put who resigned as Harambee Stars head coach.

Put, who abruptly stepped down from his role after serving for only three months in February, gave an exclusive interview to a local daily over the weekend accusing FKF of "not being ready for a professional football coach".

FKF in a statement accused the Belgian of insincerity, tabling a long list of demands he had made, and alleged he had given them only a two-week notice instead of the one month agreed on his contract.

"As FKF, we had honored the contract as expected of a National Federation. Equally, the federation treated his resignation with the utmost professional consideration. In our communication to stakeholders, we had cited the reasons for Mr. Put's resignation as personal," the lengthy statement signed by FKF Communications and Public Relations Manager, Barry Otieno stated.

"Put's comments are misleading and further point out to the unprofessional conduct he has adopted after his resignation. In light of the foregoing, the federation feels that the coach has broken the trust, professionalism and duty entrusted by the federation on him.

"We therefore wish to state the facts and correct any erroneous perceptions committed by omission or commission through the statements attributed to the former coach," Otieno said.

Among other things, the federation disputed Put's claims that his proposal to bring his own five-member team to manage the technical bench had been turned down, and he had been assigned an unworthy vehicle.

According to Put, FKF turned down the request to use his connections and match agents to secure Kenya friendlies against Luxemburg and Algeria.

By the time the coach was resigning, the federation said Put had been paid all his dues including 10,000 U.S. dollars for winning the (2017) Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup. Enditem