By 
It is exactly a week now since the UPL executive through the powers vested in them as the SUPL organisers crowned Express FC champions of the 2020/2021 season following a lockdown on sporting activity in the country which as expected provoked an invocation of the 75 per cent competition committee ruling as per the FUFA constitution.
This move was in the aftermath of what came to be FUFA’s failed request to both the government and the COVID-19 task force intended towards granting permission to the football season playing to completion. Indeed, these unfortunate scenes were always bound to force the federation’s hand, thus no surprises that the decision was made.
Whether the league would have had a different winner in the event that it had been played to completion can only now be spoken about in retrospect but what is for sure though, the red eagles are deserved champions considering that they did the tremendous work on the pitch and not only looked ferocious but also ruthless especially against their title rivals.
To provide some bit of perspective to this assertion, Express managed three wins against URA (their strongest title competitors) in four times of asking. The double in the league most importantly alongside a home-and-away fixture that saw the tax collectors agonizingly exit the Stanbic Uganda Cup with a draw at the Arena of Visions in Ndejje made a good showing for their season.
Furthermore, they managed four points out of a possible six in the league against Vipers with the hard-to-forget moment coming at the St. Mary’s Stadium in Kitende. A game that had many talking about their title credentials the moment the full-time whistle was blown.
Taking us back a little in memorial, our interest being the 2019/2020 season, at a time when the majority felt Express had lost their appeal and allure as informed by their unsophisticated brand of football brandished on the pitch under the stewardship of George Ssimwogerere, where everything seemed wrong at the club. The “Mukwano Gw’abanji” indeed more than ever sought a return to their elegant routes.
The resurgence was always going to start with a deliberate move to put their house in order because those that associate with the force that Express were in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s before their àch-nemesis SC Villa dethroned them, have it in the clear knowledge that the Red Eagles were a team synonymous to winning and dominance as opposed to finesse like their counterparts in KCC.
I did actually put together a comprehensive summary about their prowess in the above mentioned periods in a feature piece prior to the start of the season expounding on the notion that beauty is a short-lived tyranny and many of the millennials today can’t relate to the rich history the archives of this gigantic but yet enigmatic football club do possess.
That withholding, it wasn’t until very late in 2018, that the trajectory at this club gained some shape for it had seemed unfathomable in the years that proceeded 2012 as they experienced a plethora of managerial and leadership challenges that as one would wager transcended into the occurrences on the pitch. The climax to this being the media backlash following the Vincent Onyebukye story during the Nakiwala Kiyingi reign.
That posed serious ramifications to the club and indeed a turning point because later that year, the now attorney general Kilyowa Kiwanuka consolidated leadership at the club and one could comfortably say the rest is history.
The organisation designed then at the start of his regime put them in a promising state, though they had to see out the 2019/2020 season with relegation threats. The return of a familiar face in Wasswa Bbosa later that particular season would help to steady the ship in what had presented a classic reminder of the scenes from the then previous season where Alfred Leku scored the iconic goal that saved Express a possible relegation.
Wasswa Bbosa would secure another year to his name in the dugout and his incredible work this just-concluded season, especially in organising a technical bench and playing stuff that he identifies with has gone a long way in ensuring that the holy grail is delivered at the Betway Mutesa II Stadium in Wankulukuku.
The success comes as vindication to vintage Bossa who promised to deliver the league in his first three seasons at the club which in so doing has sent a passionate red sea fanbase into rupture backing their team enthusiastically. Those that managed to take a glimpse at the team play had a lot of praise.
It may flatter Express more than they deserve but in all honesty, their forward players have been a yard shaper this season especially the likes of Godfrey Lwesibawa, Martin Kizza (who has incredibly registered double figures in assists this season nevermind the fact that he joined them midway in the season), and most importantly Eric Kambale who has ensured that their opponents more often than not walk home licking their wounds.
Additionally, it is unheard of to mention a team coached by Bossa and not wax lyrical about their defence. Issa Lumu and his partner in crime Murushid Jjuuko alongside skipper Enock Walusimbi have been phenomenal in defence therefore not a surprise that the Red Eagles boast the best defensive record in the league. An honourable mention for goalkeeper Matthias Muwanga.
Express has indeed hit the heights this season and in doing so provided an important lesson to teams in the league that a studied approach is essential when preparing for success. Their work off the pitch prior to the start of the season that saw them hire a new C.E.O in Isaac Mwesigwa who set up an entire secretariat can’t go unmentioned.
It is this organisation that is responsible for the latest edition of success and the hierarchy at the club can now reminisce about the 2011/2012 season triumph under the stewardship of Sam Simbwa with the incumbent being his then understudy. That said, however, this title is ironically their seventh in history.
Ultimately, a studied approach ought to be taken by teams in the topflight if there is any intention to shrug off the mediocrity and break the jinx to success. Express was for the past eight years or so synonymous with this kind of mediocrity but with organization, they have managed to clip out of the shadows in the most desirable of ways.
