Last week’s sacking of Vipers FC’s coach Abdallah Mubiru and his assistant George ‘Best’ Nsimbe hardly surprised any keen follower of domestic football trends.
It was clear from the start of the season that they faced an uphill task to forge a winning formula given their previous spats while working together at KCCA FC. For one, Vipers boss Lawrence Mulindwa had hoped that teaming the two coaches was going to enhance the team’s performance because Nsimbe is a renowned motivator whereas Mubiru is a fine game reader.
In Uganda, however, things are never straightforward, especially when egos come into play. So, Vipers’ tumble against Villa served as the death knell as Mulindwa swung the axe to end a woeful five-month spell for the pair. At the time, Vipers were 11 points be- hind leaders KCCA. But any hopes of overhauling the now 11-point gap in the league with KCCA are very dim.
So, after the backfiring of the Mubiru-Nsimbe tandem, Mulindwa seems to be in a damage- control phase after elevating the club’s junior team tactician, Richard Wasswa, to take charge for the remainder of the season. Wasswa is a popular figure amongst Vipers players and is widely credited for grooming most of the current crop of stars at the club.
Lest you forget, Edward Golola, the man behind all the club’s trophies, is still around as the youth team coach. In many ways, Mulindwa is running out of options for local coaches and his goal of turning the club into a perennial campaigner on the continent now looks a long stretch.
By extension, that means the club cannot be in position to give exposure its bubbling talent yet that was their main goal in the wake of the $400,000 sale of Farouk Miya to Belgian outfit Standard Liege early this year.
For now, I believe Wasswa’s appointment is a stopgap measure before Vipers acquires a big name. After all, ‘how much’ is the least of Mulindwa’s challenges.
LESSON FROM KAWOOYA’S 1987 LANDMARK DECISION
Vipers FC is yet to dominate local football to deserve comparisons with the all-conquering SC Villa from the eighties. Back then, Kawooya used his deep pockets to buy top players and with that, he basked in domestic glory year after year.
The more Villa won, the more he raised the bar. In 1987, after four league titles, two Uganda Cups and one Cecafa club championship in just six years, Kawooya was bothered by the team’s dismal record on the continent.
What’s more, he had already exhausted the best tacticians in the country; George Mukasa won the 1982 league title unbeaten as well as the 1983 Uganda Cup, David Otti the 1984 championship, while Polly Ouma had clinched two league titles including the 1986 league and Cup double plus the 1987 Cecafa club championship title.
On continent, however, Villa was an unknown entity and crashed out of the 1987 African Club Championship in the first round at the hands of Sudan’s Al-Hilal. So, when the Jogoos lost the Uganda Cup final to KCC later in October, 1987, Kawooya seized the moment to shift the club’s philosophy.
He vowed to hire a foreign coach to take the club to the next level. He didn’t want any more recycling of local coaches. So, in February, 1988, Geoff Hudson arrived in the country. Kawooya also wanted Hudson to be an instructor of sorts to Ouma and his junior Timothy Ayiekoh.
From then on, Villa ‘stopped competing’ against archrivals Express and KCCA as they shifted focus to the continent. Hudson’s arrival completely changed the complexion of the club as players struggled to cope with his strictness. At times, Hudson could bring out a team of 12 players because others ‘weren’t good enough to be on the bench.’
Ouma, too, threw in the towel after a few weeks since he failed to adjust to the Briton’s demands. Still, it took three more years, including two domestic doubles, for Kawooya to see the fruits of his investment.
In 1991, Villa did the unthinkable to finish runners-up in the continent’s premier competition and, more compellingly, the stock of their players shot through the roof.
Magid Musisi was the outstanding player but it can be argued that the entire Villa XI were stars in their own right. Hudson quit the club for
new challenges after grooming Ayiekoh, who also went on to reach the 1992 Caf Cup final with virtually the same team.
What followed was the astonishing $120,000 sale of Musisi to French side Rennes. Unfortunately, Kawooya’s dete- riorating health in 1993 coupled with the club’s administration wrangles derailed the Villa juggernaut.
Then again, the careers of several Villa starters were approaching the end and therefore weren’t ripe for professional football. Players such as Paul Hasule, Paul Nkata, William Nkemba, Adam Semugabi, Mike Mukasa, Robert Semakula, Geoffrey Higenyi, Sula Kato, Zaidi Tibesigwa and Twaha Kivumbi quit within three years of those achievements.
However, Vipers is brimming with starlets that basically need fine-tuning to fulfill their potential.
That’s where a foreign coach comes in. I don’t actually mean a white coach, but someone qualified enough to handle the pressures of top-level football on top of disciplining the players without fear, plus awarding play time on merit.
Unfortunately, I don’t see all those qualities in our coaches and that has given rise to player power, which has also been fronted for Mubiru’s failure.
Without attempting to despise the crop of local coaches, truth is they cannot consistently take a team far on continent. Perhaps it is high time Mulindwa copied what Kawooya did 19 years ago. It may not be the magic bullet, but it may be the only option at this stage.
bzziwa@observer.ug
The author is operations director of The Observer Media Ltd.