Will Byekwaso be Villa’s substantive coach?

One thing that is becoming a constant in the football coaching life of Morley Byekwaso, is Déjà vu.

In March 2021, he replaced Mike Mutebi as KCCA FC coach, after being his assistant for three and a half years. Now, Byekwaso has replaced the Serbian Dusan Stojanovic, who parted company with SC Villa over the weekend.

Byekwaso had worked as Stojanovic’s under-study since July 2023, a period that culminated in SC Villa winning the Uganda Premier League (UPL) title for the first time in 20 years, when they were crowned in May 2024. But to understand the Déjà vu in Byekwaso’s coaching career thus far, one has to look back at the fact that his most recent appointments have seen him jump from deputy to boss, albeit in caretaker role for the start.

However, looking back at the fact that in 2021, when KCCA sacked Mutebi, they after three months named Byekwaso in substantive capacity of head coach, could SC Villa follow the same script?

SC Villa’s public relations officer, Asan Kasingye, who is the former deputy inspector general of police said: “At this point, Byekwaso is in interim charge. The club’s top management will decide who becomes substantive head coach. Is Byekwaso in contention? Possibly. He has the required qualifications. So, we wait and see.”

As a professional footballer, Byekwaso had a starring career at SC Villa, when he left KCCA at the end of the 2001 season. Between 2002 and 2005, Byekwaso became a darling at SC Villa, having inspired the club to two Cecafa Club titles and three league titles. In fact, based on this, many consider him more of a Villa legend than a KCCA one.

On the basis of this, Villa, especially the management headed by Omar Mandela, consider Byekwaso their own. That is why, at the end of the 2022/23 season in which Byekwaso resigned as KCCA coach, following elimination from the Stanbic Uganda Cup, Mandela did not hesitate to appoint him despite a coaching reputation that had taken a knock.

You see, in the two and a half seasons he was in charge at KCCA, the team was considered to have stagnated, and detoured off the free-flowing attacking football his predecessor, Mutebi had instilled at the club. During his first full season, KCCA were beaten to the league title by Vipers SC with a difference of 18 points, yet, in the second round of that 2022/23 season, Byekwaso’s side led the table by two points.

At the moment, Byekwaso will aim to prove himself all over again. Perhaps it is at SC Villa where his winning charm is like he proved as a player. Meanwhile, before Byekwaso replaced Mutebi, he guided Uganda’s under-20 side to the Africa Championship final the same way he led the same team to the final of the All Africa Games. Another bitof Déjàvu,right?

jovi@observer.ug