Police paying the price for persistent high turnover

George Ssenkaaba scored in added time for Express to inflict a painful 2-1 loss on Police at the Phillip Omondi Stadium on Tuesday.
The result was the fifth straight defeat for the Cops, who remain the only team yet to register a point in the StarTimes Uganda Premier League after five matchdays.
Not many coaches across the world would retain their jobs after such a dismal run. That, however, does not yet seem to be the case for the club’s head coach Abdallah Mubiru.

Known largely as an introvert, Mubiru has this week twice given quite telling interviews about the team’s poor start to the season and state of affairs at the club.
“On the pitch we can see progress in the performances and we believe that will help us turn them into positive results,” he opined after the game against Express.
He had earlier expressed similar concerns in his side’s 1-0 defeat to SC Villa alluding to his powers being restricted to on-field performances.

And while he did not divulge any details, it is a public secret that the club is often affected by delay in players’ salaries.
The situation often disheartens players who are then easily lured by better paying clubs and in many cases departing for no or low transfer fees.
Since joining the club in December 2016, Mubiru has got used to seeing some of his best performers depart every season.

Shortly after his arrival Mubiru enticed Martin Mpuuga, Paul Willa, Brian Ochwo, Hakim Senkumba and Yasin Mugume to join him from KCCA.
Having arrived on loan, the quintet were all signed permanently before the start of the subsequent campaign in 2017/2018 season along with six new faces.
Only Samuel Kayongo remains from that group with Juma Balinya returning this season after an East African sojourn in Kenya and Tanzania before a stint to forget with KCCA.
At their unveiling, club chairman AIGP Asan Kasingye pledged to have the players motivated with promising salaries.

“Our players are to have a promising salary and allowances to motivate them so that we can achieve our goals and their goals as players,” he said then.
Having done their business early, the club made a fast start and topped the table standings after matchday-12.
They then faded in the second round to finish sixth after narrowly surviving relegation the season before.
“The players we use often come to the club without much playing time from their previous clubs or we get inexperienced ones who need time to step up to the demands of the league,” observed Mubiru this week.

Unlike previous seasons, however, the club returned to training later than earlier planned and also left it late in terms of confirming their season squad.
As Mubiru bides his time with the latest crop of youngsters, including Isaac Kiberu and Emmanuel Mugume, he will hope the experienced ones start delivering.

Captain Tonny Mawejje has only played half of the five games thus far while forward Johnson Odong played his first game against Express while returning from injury.
Others like Ruben Kimera, Muwadda Mawejje have had indifferent starts.
After avoiding the drop in 2020 again by just a single point, it remains to be seen whether they can weather the latest storm.

UPL 2021-22 standings
Team     P     W     D     L     F     A    GD     Pts
1.KCCA    5    4    1    0    9    2     7    13
2.Vipers    4    3    1    0    10    8     2    10
3.Bul    4    3    0    1    5    3     2    9
4.Wakiso Giants    5    3    0    2    5    9    -4    9
5.Arua Hill    4    2    1    1    6    4     2    7
6.Express    5    2    1    2    5    6    -1    7
7.Mbarara City    4    2    0    2    5    4     1    6
8.UPDF    4    1    2    1    5    6    -1    5
9.Gaddafi    5    1    2    2    5    7    -2    5
10.Onduparaka    5    1    2    2    2    4    -2    5
11.Tooro United    3    1    1    1    2    3     -1    4
12.URA     2    1    0    1    5    4      1    3
13.Busoga Utd    3    1    0    2    2    2      0    3
14.Villa    2    1    0    1    2    3      -1    3
15.Bright Stars    4    0    1    3    2    6    -4    1
16.Police    5    0    0    5    2    8    -6    0
Uganda Premier League
POLICE’s IGNOMINY
Police    0-2    Vipers
Bul        2- 1    Police
Police    0- 1    Wakiso Giants
Villa    1 -0    Police
Police    1 -2    Express
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