Saleh aims to cut Rangers squad
Newly appointed Rangers FC head coach Leonard Saleh has officially taken over at the former Kenyan Premier League (KPL) side, and after one week of pre-season training, he has revealed his plans to cut down the numbers at the team.
Financial constraints, which were a key issue at the club at the close of 2012 as the team failed in its survival bid are now a thing of the past, with a lucrative sponsorship deal from the Postal Corporation of Kenya.
Coach Saleh, though, believes the club will be able to perform with a lean squad. He admitted that the current total of 30 players is too big and revealed that he will be cutting down the number to 24.
“The pre-season training started well and there is nothing negative to report on so far. Every player who we expected to be here has showed up and it is all systems go. However, there is still some culling to be done on the playing unit. At the moment we have a squad of 30 players, and this we feel is a very big number for the second tier and also our budgetary allocations,” he said.
“We are eyeing a team of around 24 good players for the 2013 season, so I will be dropping about six this week. I believe that the squad we will have after that will be capable of doing well in the coming season. I have seen a good number of hard working players already.”
Rangers recalled a number of big former players and will be looking to bounce back to the top flight in 2014.
