Villa look to new club patron to restore glory
New era. SC Villa president Ben Misagga (left) unveiling the club’s new patron Gerald Wasswa Kasozi at Kati Kati Restaurant in Kampala yesterday morning. Misagga declared that Kasozi’s appointment would make the club formidable in its administration as they seek to restore the glorious era of Uganda’s most successful football club. PHOTO BY ELVIS SENONO
Kampala. Not since the death of Henry Balamaze Lwanga in September 2011, have record 16-time league champions SC Villa had a club patron.
That was ended yesterday as the club announced prominent Masaka businessman Gerald Wasswa Kasozi as the club’s new patron at a function held at Kati Kati yesterday morning.
“We want to show you how we complete our trinity. We’ve been working on two pillars but now we have three. A patron has been the missing link at the club. Villa didn’t have a judiciary; we had the executive and legislature. It has been a long search but we are glad to have found someone suitable,” club president Ben Misagga said of the appointment of Kasozi who is also the proprietor of Bright Grammar School in Masaka.
Role at the club
“He gives the club a corporate image the way the late Lwanga did. He is a fountain of honour at the club.”
Balamaze was behind the deal to bring on board Agip as a Villa sponsor back in the 1990’s. If I have a disagreement with an executive member the patron acts as an arbiter,” Misagga further explained.
Despite holding a record 16 titles, Villa is seeking to win their maiden league crown since 2004.
For most of the last decade, the club have languished in mediocrity and KCCA (12 league crowns) have closed the championship haul with a series of league titles that have brought them within touching distance of the Jogoos’ success.
Kasozi’s addition is expected to bolster the club’s financial standing which currently depends on Startimes sponsorship.
“I have been in Villa since childhood and I was member of the club when it was still called Nakivubo boys. I have always been in Villa only that I have been at the back but I am not new. I promise to lift Villa to a higher extent,” Kasozi vowed.
The club has already made several signings including Simon Sserunkuma, Musa Mukasa and Mahad Kakooza who all moved from rivals Express.
