Cheeky Micho brings the best out of Magogo

Aug 04, 2017

FUFA owed Micho US $ 54,000.

For once, I was wrong footed by FUFA. They turned a national football scandal into an opportunity and the public was sold. First, they candidly acknowledged that former Cranes coach Micho was not crying crocodile tears. They owed him

They owed him salary in arrears to the tune of US $ 54,000. It was less than what Micho had claimed, but it was by fine margins. In the same breath however, they pulled off a master stroke and announced that in the interim, they had appointed  local coaches Moses Basena and Fred Kajoba to steady the ship that Micho had left sailing unattended.

So gullible can the Ugandan football public be at times that few saw through the emptiness of an offer of a job without a contract, however temporary or short term that might be. This is where I gave full marks to FUFA. Aware that Ugandans have for long demanded a chance to be given to local talent, FUFA knew that they would be able to draw the attention away from the scandalous story of short changing a professional coach , to the emotive one of promoting local coaches. Thereafter, it was a smooth sailing for the FUFA team at the press conference as questions now focused on Basena and Kajoba. 

Moses Magogo, was at his cunning best. The mild attempt at probing into the reasons why the Serbian had been undervalued to the extent of opting to have him leave rather than breaking the bank to pay him was trampled underfoot. "I am the only one who believed in Micho when he was first given the job, so no one can pretend to value him more than me," the president retorted. If that was intimidating to the reporter, then the response to the question whether the local coaches will be paid a salary was insolent  at best; "We don't have money but we will work out and agree on a formula to pay them," he replied.

There in lies the arrogance of the man. On a day when FUFA was supposed to put Ugandans' minds to rest that the failure to pay Micho was not intended but perhaps down to dry pockets, he re-confirmed that payment of national team coaches is not among the federation priorities. He talked about giving the local pair allowances and bonuses as has been the case, but nothing else. Ironic that at the same time, he explained that  FUFA had  offered to double Micho's salary had he accepted to stay. This would have raised the figure to US $ 20,000 per month but regrettably, according to him, the Serbian declined to take the offer.

On that note, Magogo for once met a perfect match in irony and oratory. When Micho was asked later to react to the accusation that he's the one who had turned down a new offer of contract extension, he cheekily replied; "How can they afford to pay you double when  they can't pay you single?" Classic. In all, Magogo, who was flanked by both his CEO Edgar Watson and publicist Ahmed Hussein,  managed to calm down tempers by using an old trick in the book; emotional manipulation. He always knew that  Ugandans forget easily and they shift attention at will.

Unfortunately, that's how Micho came out the loser on all fronts. His resignation was by and large treated as a publicity stunt even though it wasn't, and few were willing to press the federation harder on the issue of when he will be paid. And for as long as Basena and Kajoba ran the daily Cranes training in full focus of the cameras, hardly will anyone entertain the Micho talk. To them, Cranes will have moved on and the only important item will be the next fixture which is Egypt. For this, I reserve maximum respect for the man who came up with this ingenious plan - Moses Magogo. If this is leadership, then it's clever leadership. The kind that will make  the federation ride through any storm. Now, the man is ready to swear in once more as the next Fufa president for the next four years.

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