New Harambee Stars head coach Paul Put. He has come to be haunted by a dark past of match -fixing in his home country. [PHOTO/Standard]
Although he has been seen as a better replacement for outgoing head coach Stanley Okumbi, Harambee Stars new coach Paul Put will have to fight images from a dark past to appeal to supporters.
The manager was once banned for match fixing while he served as head coach of Belgian club Lierse.
The ban was imposed in 2008 by the Royal Belgian Football Association after it emerged that he had played a role in the Ye Zheyun match-fixing scandal.
However, the Belgian downplayed the claims of 'fixing' during an interview with BBC last year, saying he was forced into it.
“The whole of Belgian football was sick,” said the Belgian.
“I was threatened by the mafia, my children were threatened, the mafia threatened me with weapons and things like that so it’s not nice to talk about these things but this is the reality.”
“I was forced into it. But fixing is a big word. At that time Belgian football was in a bad way. There was no hope, no money. It’s not that I was involved in match-fixing, not at all, but it’s been portrayed like that in the media.”
“And remember, I was just the coach. I had to listen to people above me and the players as well. I was made the scapegoat but other teams were doing the same, not only Lierse.”