A Venomous UPL season, dogfight and jailed Cops

After two years of premature finish due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the StarTimes Uganda Premier League finally played to its conclusion. 
There wasn’t much drama at the top as Vipers raised their standards to dwarf their competitors with a near-spotless record but the relegation battle has been one hell of an exhilarating race that pitted as many as 10 teams by the half of the season.
There were several disappointments from the other horses, a legend of the game bowing out, narrow escapes and a former champion going down after 27 years in the topflight. 
We look at some of the take home points from the season.

The KCCA implodes

At some point around matchday 10, KCCA were leading Vipers by six points but after another set of five matches into the halfway mark, the Kasasiro Boys were trailing by a point. 
In those games, the Lugogo side had not lost a match in a run that included a win which was the only defeat Arua Hill suffered at their backyard in Arua the whole season. 
The sudden implosion is almost unexplainable as even Coach Morley Byekwaso himself struggled for words.
“I teach them how to do some things but cannot go on the pitch to score by myself,” Byekwaso replied in one of his post-match press conferences.
Byekwaso’s main source of goals Davis Kasirye, Sadat Anaku and Charles Lwanga could only account for eighteen in total. Whereas their attack and creativity were in shambles, at least going by the numbers, their backline was second best conceding only 21, two more than Vipers as star defender Herbert Achai, John Revita, Denis Iguma and Innocent Wafula tried to cover the gap by contributing 12 goals.

Taxes mismanaged

A quick internet search on the local football club called URA will give you “sacks coach”, “appoints interim”, “appoints manager”, “sacks interim” and “suspends duo for misconduct”. 
Largely, that’s what we can talk about the Tax Collectors’ season. Unnecessary managerial changes saw Simeone Masaba take over from Sam Ssimbwa on interim, then later appointed Sam Timbe to a position they called “team manager.”
Timbe then took over interim head coach role after Masaba and his assistants were fired around the same time their top scorer Steven Mukwala and Derrick Ndahiro were suspended for alleged misconduct.
While they felt that they could have pushed Express off it last season had Fufa allowed a sporting end to the league with only a point separating the two, this season URA went into hibernation when everyone expected them to chase Vipers – or at least pretend to do so. They did not even flatter here.

Bul, best of the rest

Alex Isabirye has reinvented the wheels at the edible oils manufacturer’s machines. 
From just a perennial pretender and an 11th place finish last season to the top four and consecutive Uganda Cup final appearance is a remarkable improvement. 
The ability to transform the team to hinge on a rare back-three, get the perfect replacement for Musa Esenu in Karim Ndugwa midseason and polish Simon Peter Oketch on his senior team debut shows a man who got his tactics right. 
He also got the best out of his signings George Kasonko and 12-goal man Ibrahim Nsiimbe. By finishing just four points off the second spot shows the Eastern Giants are above the average and ready to rumble with the big boys.

Vipers near invisibility

It is hard to pick faults in Vipers current set up both on and off the pitch. Almost all the regular players in their line up can make a valid case for the player of the season in their respective positions.
They were the favourites to win their fifth title even before a ball was kicked but no one envisaged they would run away in such an explosive and dominant fashion as they did. 
A goal difference of +50, only two hiccups losses and their overall point haul of 74 clearly set them head and shoulders above the rest.
Since strength is somewhat a relative measure, the power of their venom can only be gauged when they fly out for international engagements in next season’s Caf Champions League. 

The holy trinity

There has not been a more lethal attacking force that has dominated the Uganda Premier League of recent times than the combo of Yunus Sentamu, Militon Karisa and Congolese forward Caesar Manzoki did this season.
Manzoki arrived from DR Congo in October 2020 with scant goal records but flashed signs of brilliance in front of goal with seven league goals and a similar number as he wrapped the Uganda Cup and its golden boot last season. 
He took over the mantle this season as the trident combined to destroy defences jointly scoring 42 goals with 13 assists. 
Manzoki scooped the golden boot with 18 goals, Sentamu scored 14 and Karisa 10. League runner-up KCCA scored 41 the whole season, while dethroned champions Express managed only 31.

Arua Hill dazzles

League newbies Arua Hill’s pomp and style did not go unnoticed as they landed a Shs1.5 billion sponsorship package from Kansai Plascon spread evenly over three years. 
Towards the end of the season, Wakiso Giants grabbed $ 65,000 (about Shs235 million) from betting firm 1XBet for next season.
Meanwhile players, coaches, fans and the Uganda Premier League secretariat will be swimming in a Shs1 billion package from Pilsner Lager for the next two seasons after the beer brand signed a three-year deal to promote the awards.
However, the exit of Betway has left some clubs such as Express reeling and stuck in wearing ‘expired’ shirts with the betting firm’s logo.