AS Kigali fans have criticized the club for lack of patience following the sacking of their coach Mike Mutebi and his assistant coach Jackson Mayanja. The duo was shown the exit door on Monday, April 25, after a series of poor results with the latest having been over the weekend when they lost to Rayon Sport which has also been in poor form recently. Mutebi and Mayanja were set for a major rebuild at the Kigali City-sponsored club upon their appointment in January, with the prospect of succeeding where former coach Eric Nshiyimana failed during his time at the club. They, however, failed to make an impact and the results have been going from bad to worse during the past three months, something that did not impress their employers led by club president Fabrice Shema and secretary general Francis Gasana. “Yes, it’s true that the club parted ways with Mutebi and his assistant Mayanja,” said Gasana. “The performance of the club under their guidance was not impressive and we decided to part ways,” he added. But the sudden sacking did not impress a number of the club’s fans who accused the club management of lacking patience when they decided to sack Mutebi who they think would have been given time to bring the team back to winning ways. “I see no success in football without patience,” reacted one Twitter user identified as Ndacyayisaba. “Isn’t this sort of rushing [to sack him]? I think they should have let him begin the new season with the club,” said Aimable Lee, another fan. Enough is enough! During the short period they were in charge at the club, AS Kigali only managed to win three games, lost three and were held to seven draws. “The numbers can help everyone understand why we decided to sack them. You can’t see a club keep in free fall and let it go,” Gasana told Times Sport. While football fans say that the club was too quick to sack Mutebi, Gasana revealed that the club was patient with the performances from the opening seven games since the appointment of the Ugandan coach for him to settle in the league. However, he said, it did not work for the club. “We believed the seven matches were enough for him to have adapted to the local football intensity but, unfortunately, the club’s performance was not improving even after the seven games. Parting ways with them was, at this stage, the least we could do,” he explained. The club is now looking up to a new chapter after announcing Andre Casa Mbungo as Mutebi’s replacement . Mbungo, who has been jobless since his sacking by Kenyan side Bandari in February, returns to the club he guided to the Peace Cup glory in 2014. The former Kiyovu, Police, Rayon and Gasogi tactician will coach the club during the remainder of the 2022-2023 season.
