Where does KCCA FC go from here after failing to copy Vipers blueprint?

How best can one describe the statement that KCCA FC put out this past week after cutting erstwhile head coach Sergio Traguil loose? It all seemed a little ridiculous in a way that could be fun to be honest. 

The Portuguese tactician—who could yet turn out to be one heck of a soberingly expensive experiment—was sent packing because of, wait for it, “a family issue that requires his immediate attention.” Like really? No doubt that line will stay with the club's faithful long after the pulse triggered by what is shaping into a tumultuous season settles.

To say that the statement signed off by the club's new board chair—Eng Andrew Sserunjogi Mukiibi—bristled with weirdness would be an understatement. One KCCA FC fan tried—unsuccessfully, it must be added—to convince yours truly that beneath all the antics is a tender heart that means well. 

Maybe. But, in the uncharted waters that KCCA FC finds itself, less is more. I mean, how do you put a spin to dispensing with a highly regarded coach a handful of matches into the season when the noun ‘project’ had gained lots of currency? Referencing “a family issue” is something unreservedly phoney and quite frankly beneath KCCA FC.

But then again, it has been a start to the season like no other at Lugogo where the entire order seems perpetually on the verge of collapse. It is not everyday that a player on a club's roster reacts to a chastening defeat against a newly promoted side with a laughing emoji on his socials. Midfield schemer Moses Waiswa did just that after Kitara pummelled the Kasasiro Boys 3-1.

Defeat against yet another newly promoted outfit on Thursday—this time at home to NEC—means that a moan of quiet agitation and fear will continue to hover above Lugogo. Having initially failed to grasp the gravity of the situation, there is also the possibility that club officials could fail to produce the much-needed mix of contrition and charm to gradually win back doubting Thomases. Of which there are many. 

As responsible authorities contemplate how to restore a measure of confidence, they will doubtless know that a linear story of triumph over hardship is not guaranteed. Since they cannot bend time to their will, being conceited and out of touch—as has recently been the case—will terminally damage any prospect for revival.

Over the next course of days, KCCA FC’s top brass will be faced with a series of impossible choices. It will be worth lingering over the implication of each. In years gone by, the club's genius lay in the acute awareness that it is critically important—even existential—not to reveal to others what churns inside the heads and hearts of its leaders. It should continue on this path.

Most importantly, though, decisions taken should be thought through. Deeply. Was the Traguil experiment given much thought? The speed it took the club's top brass to hand the Portuguese coach a pink slip suggests otherwise. There were always deep-seated fears that, in stuffing its back room and dressing room with foreign imports, KCCA FC was trying to copy the Vipers SC template or blueprint. 

For a club that demonstrated a keen eye for blooding academy players into the first team, the new-found love in foreign imports was bound to have its own set of complexities. And, indeed, it did. Whereas in Kitende there seems to be a method to the madness of going foreign, there was no guarantee that the same approach could not push KCCA FC down a rabbit hole. The startling turn taken has only succeeded in having a new mood of impatience take over at Lugogo. It will be fascinating to see how the 13-time national champions dig themselves out of a hole.