What are Munro's cards after Mathare's relegation?

After Mathare United were relegated, all eyes are now on Bob Munro, the club's chief, to see how the veteran football administrator will react before the next campaign begins.

Munro is a known fighter and stands his ground whenever he feels that unjustified moves have been made. In the previous season, he took the Football Kenya Federation Transition Committee to court for relegating the club.

In his previous cases, he felt his team was unjustifiably relegated, but in the current scenario, The Slum Boys suffered relegation purely on sporting grounds; they struggled, they were inconsistent, and finally got chopped.

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Previously, Munro won the battle and saw Mathare reinstated in the Premier League. The Eastlands club had been demoted by the Football Kenya Federation interim committee that had been formed to undertake the federation's duties last year.

Munro moved to court and sought clarification on whether the committee had the power to relegate or promote any club.

In his case, Munro raised fundamental questions after his team was relegated for giving out three walkovers. The Slum Boys had forfeited three games - and blamed the transition committee for failing to release funds for the club. Should a club fail to play three games in a season, according to FKF Premier League rules, it will automatically lead to relegation.

"Any club in a league format that doesn’t turn up for three fixtures in a season and their explanation under Rule 3.1.7 is not accepted in all three incidences to the FKF National Leagues and Competition Committee, shall be suspended for the rest of the season, shall be relegated to a lower league for the next season, and may face other disciplinary action," states the federation’s rules and regulations under the chapter Match Organization; Fixtures Management and Fulfillment.

However, Munro and Mathare United got a reprieve when the Constitutional Court stayed a decision that had been named earlier by the Sports Disputes Tribunal, nullifying the KPL's 2021/22 campaign.

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Mathare was among the clubs that had been demoted by the transition committee, which had also promoted APS Bomet and Fortune Sacco from the National Super League.

There were legal confusions before the 2022–23 season began, as FKF's decision to nullify the previous season, was overruled by the Sports Disputes Tribunal. APS Bomet and Kona Rangers had moved the court to seek nullification of the FKF's decision to cancel the previous season. The FKF national executive committee, after they were reinstated, cancelled the 2021/22 season, and that meant there were no relegations or promotions in the Premier League, National Super League, or Women's Premier League.

In response, the FKF moved to the Constitution Court, seeking the SDT's orders to be stayed, and in that confusion, the just-concluded season ran with Vihiga Bullets and Mathare in the top-tier.

What are the technicalities now?

Should Munro decide to fight through the courts to see that his side remains in the Premier League, one of the grounds on which he might argue his case is that since there were no relegation in the second division, the same should apply in the top tier too.

When the FKF NEC cancelled the previous season, that saw the reinstatement of both Mathare and Vihiga at the expense of Fortune Sacco and APS Bomet, who refused to get back to the NSL for the just concluded season.

This matter is now a subject of the court, and even though the judgment is yet to be made, it will come when the seasons have already ended and the promotion/relegation races are about to be concluded.

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Shabana and Murang'a Seal have already booked their places in the top tier, and Wazito and Migori Youth will fight for a place in the Premier League through the playoffs, but this situation is clouded by the fact that the court has yet to make its ruling concerning the fate of last season.

Apart from that uncertainty, Munro's silence and his next possible move are something that is awaited because he is a man who, considering his previous moves, does not go down without a fight.