SC Villa smile as the ‘Hasule gamble’ pays off

By Joseph BatteWhen SC Villa dumped their trophy-winning coach Paul Hasule for Moses Basena and Micho Sredojevich, a majority of their fans thought it was the most ridiculous administrative own-goal.Even rival fans dismissed the idea of Villa retaining their championship as fantasy talk. But barely a month into the reign of Micho and Basena, there is an undeniable sense of revitalisation within Villa camp. At the start of the season the champions, by their own admission, were struggling to score. But results like a 4-2 beating of Mbarara and back-to-back 3-1 victories over Masaka LC and Mbale Heroes have made a complete mockery of the striking problem“That was unthinkable a few years ago. We could score but fight till the last whistle to cling to our win. But now its our opponents who are doing the fighting to keep us from scoring,” observed Dan Matovu, an ardent Villa fan.Even Paul Hasule observed there is a significant rebirth in Villa when he said: “There are certain things they (Villa) are doing professionally.”Villa officials, too, walk with the self-assured look of a lone bull in a kraal full of cows. SC Villa treasurer Omar Ahmed Mandela said: “We may not be able to win the league this season, but at least I can see light at the end of the tunnel.” “I believe in winning and losing. However, what matters most at the end of day for us is how you play. I can see that we are now playing some very good soccer.” The Villa strongman is just being modest. Despite their early elimination from Africa, Villa’s near-perfect march makes them favourites to win the championship.Secretary Luyimbazi Mugalu thinks there are some significant changes in the way the Yugoslav is handling the team.“Micho introduced a European system of management. He is the one who now pays the players’ salaries and allowances. He is very concerned about their welfare which has helped ease the pressure on us.”A cautious Micho said: “Seven wins and one draw means the we are now in a winning mentality, but of course there is still lot of work to be done.”But so far so good.ends