Bakali brothers look to bring exciting brand of football to Burnham

Photo credit: Jonathan Biss

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Mo and Omz Bakali have barely had time to stop and take stock after taking over from Ben Murray and Kavi Luchowa as joint managers of Burnham FC.

Having been promoted from within after joining the club from Rising Ballers Kensington in the summer, the pair have since taken charge of four matches, guiding the Blues to cup wins in the Premier Challenge Cup and FA Vase and two draws in the Combined Counties Premier Division North.

They hope to build on the good work of Murray and Luchowa and make Burnham a competitive club at this level while playing an attractive, entertaining style of football. But their background at Rising Ballers and Kensington Borough - before the two teams amalgamated - is to bring through talented young players and give them a taste of men's non-league football.

“Yeah, we’re all good at the minute,” said Mo. “Initially it was a bit rushed. We took over on a short notice. But it’s all good. We’re pleased.

“We were working with the management from the start of the season. We brought over some players who’ve been playing for us for a few years. Players who we knew quite well. Since Ben left, we’ve been right in it.

“I don't get involved in any politics. To be honest with you I don’t have any idea. Ben was there for a few years, and it seemed like it was going ok.

“But we were asked to do a job and take the club in a bit of a different direction and it’s what we’ve been tasked with doing and what we will hopefully do.”

He added: “Myself and my brother and Gilbaut (Gilbaut Batousol the club’s assistant manager) who is now working with us at the club. We started a club a long time ago called Kensington Borough which was based over in the West London area.

“We started it from grassroots, and we ended up in the Spartan League. We were bringing through players, it was more about progressing players than taking the club on if that makes sense. We got them involved in non-league and gave them a taste of men’s football.

“And Rising Ballers, I’m not sure if you’re aware, is a big YouTube thing. They’re big on the social media side of things. We sort of did a merger and became Rising Ballers Kensington.”

Burnham have a very young squad on their hands - with several family members among them - and with that comes a degree of inconsistency. However, under Mo and Omz the side have been hard to beat in recent weeks too, and Mo believes the quality of the players will shine through, whatever their age.

It was certainly a family affair on Saturday as the Blues bounced back from conceding early against Broadfields United. Bilal Bakali - another of the brothers - netted an 86th minute equaliser as the Blues battled back to draw 1-1. The result leaves them 12th in the table.

Mo added: “Bilal is another brother, There’s a few of us. It was a family affair for sure on Saturday. We have a few young family members within the squad. But all the boys are like family to us. We have a good relationship with them.”

On Saturday, they visit a newly promoted - but competitive - British Airways side before hosting Combined Counties Premier Division South promotion contenders, Cobham in the second round of the FA Vase on Saturday, November 9. Burnham saw off Eastbourne United on penalties after a goalless draw in the last round.

“We've got a good group,” he said. “They are an extremely young group, but they’ve known each other for quite some time and played with each other at other places and other academies.

“One thing I think we can guarantee with the players we have is an exciting style of football, a good brand of football.

“Really intense and lots of energy with the younger guys. But we’ll take it game by game and see where we end up.

“BA we know from managing in the Combined Counties Division 1 last season and Cobham are a side we’ve come up against in the Combined Counties before. They are two sides that are doing quite well, and they should be good games. The Vase game, we should be in for an entertaining one.”