“We are here to develop Sierra Leone football, and I want all your support” Keister
By Hawa Dauda in Freetown.
Former Sierra Leone International and current East End Lions Coach John Keister, has been reappointed Head Coach of the National Team, Leone Stars. The 49-year old, who is replacing Ghanaian Sellas Tetteh, was unveiled on Monday at the Siaka Stevens Stadium in Freetown.
Keister who is set to resign his position as East End Lions’ Head Coach, won the 2019 Sierra Leone Premier League unbeaten. The former Shrewsbury Town and Dover Athletic midfielder is now tasked to qualify Leone Stars to the 2022 African Cup of Nations in Cameroon.
He was Assistant Coach under three foreign Coaches- amongst them, Ireland’s Johnny Mckinstry and Sellas Tetteh.
Keister was first appointed Head Coach of Leone Stars in May 2017 and was replaced by Sellas Tetteh, who also enjoyed his second but short stint in 2019.
“I just want to express my gratitude to you all for coming here today in support of what we’re trying to do, to develop Sierra Leone football “, Keister told Journalists.
“We are here representing Sierra Leone. We are going to do our job to the best of our abilities to achieve this goal”, he said.
John was also Head Coach of the country’s Home-Based Team, the Under-17 and Under-23 National Teams. He played for Sierra Leone 16 times as midfielder between 1997 and 2003. Keister born in Manchester also played for Tigres, Walsall, Margate and Chester City. He’ll be deputised by Amidu Karim, the current FC Kallon Head Coach.
Sierra Leone drew 1-1 with Lesotho in their opening 2022 AFCON Qualifying fixture in November 2019 and lost to Benin 1-0 in their second encounter the same month.
Sierra Leone’s next fixture is against Nigeria. The match was supposed to have played in March 2020 but was put on hold due to coronavirus. That match will be Keister’s first test in his new job.