Thika United on the brink of collapse

Thika United’s director Michael Kariuki has made a passionate appeal to well wishers from Mount Kenya region to jump in and bail out the club which is teetering on the brink of collapse.

Thika were relegated to the National Super League at the end of last season and Kariuki says they are struggling to hold.

“Our budget  in the 2016/2017 season was Ksh. 25 Million but the sponsor offered only Ksh. 10 Million, that tells you how tough it has been.

“I’m calling upon well wishers especially from the mountain region to come to our rescue. We have so many talented youths full of passion from this region and we need to support them in sporting activities,” Muriuki appealed.

Due to its financial constraints, Thika have lost 12 valuable players in the last 12 months alone, including its former captain and Harambee stars ace Dennis Odhiambo.

The 10 million sponsorship deal that the Thika based club had with Brookside Dairies came to an end a year ago, making an already bad situation worse, making them operate without any meaningful income in the last six months.

This situation left the players with no choice but to seek  greener pastures elsewhere.

With a lean budget, Kariuki is however putting up a brave face and has rubbished reports that the team may consider pulling out of the NSL should they fail to attract a sponsor.

“Football is all about passion, we have 13 players as we speak, if I announce today that the club is recruiting new players, I’m pretty sure we will have players who will play for free, out of passion. We are in the NSL to the final game,” he reinforced.

But even as he assures of their continuity, evidence points to the contrary as the club has, in the past, written to FKF  wanting their  fixtures  rescheduled until they get a deal from any sponsor but their pleas fell on deaf ears.

The team gave a walkover to Coast Stima in their opener after they failed to travel to Mombasa to honour the match while their second game aborted last Sunday after Modern Coast Rangers failed to turn up at Thika Stadium.