BY BOCKARIE ALIEU
232NEWS, FREETOWN
Though his contract with Bo Rangers will start on the 1st of November 2023, the former Leone Stars head Coach, John Keister is set to be on the torch line on the 28th October for the Charity Shield match against Blackpool in Bo.
After the Charity Shield, Keister will officially take over the team for the commencement of the 2023/2024 Leone Rock Premier League.
Bo Rangers have won the Sierra Leone Premier League back to back and want to do it three in a row.
With their former head coach Alhaji Foray now with the Leone Stars technical team, the executive believed Keister with his vast experience and track record in the football coaching will deliver what they want.
Coach John Keister have track record in club coaching having taking FC Johansen to the Premier league from division1 and also won the premier league with East End Lions.
Despite being out of club coaching for over three years, he is acquainted with most of the home base players and may know how to cater for the good ones among them.
In the match against Blackpool, all eyes will be on the style of play weather it wins matches. In the past league, Blackpool ended in second position with vast points between them and Bo Rangers.
Beside they are yet to defeat Bo Rangers in Bo. Notwithstanding, Blackpool started training this week both for the Charity Shield and the premier league.
The league will kick-off a week after the Charity Shield match. Both teams will play their first matches in the league on Sunday 4th November 2023. On that day, the defending champions Bo Rangers will host Freetown City FC at the Southern Arena Stadium in BO.
In Freetown, on the same date, Blackpool will face their traditional arch rivals East End Lions at the Trade Center field.
From East End Lions Keister took up the Leone Stars job on Monday 10th August 2020, John Keister took up the Leone Stars job as the head coach.
The former Sierra Leonean international was named coach of Leone Stars for a second time on a deal that lasted till August 2023.
While in charge of Leone Stars, he took the team for the AFCON tournament that was hosted in Cameroon. He though failed to do it in the recent qualifiers for the Ivory Coast AFCON tournament. His new task at Bo Rangers is not just to win the league this time but to take the team to the group stage of the CAF Clubs champion league.
The Rangers have taken part in the CAF Club Champions league but are yet to qualify to the group stage of the champions’ league.