Nearly ditched at SC Villa, a hero at Saints FC and now making headlines at Kenya Premier League (KPL) side KCB, Ronald Musana spoke to Kawowo Sports’ Ismael Kiyonga about his short career.
In his early 20s, Musana has played for SC Villa, Water FC, Kira Young and Fufa Big League side Saints FC all in a space of three years but he seems to be finally finding home at KCB.
In his own words, the KCB number 3 regrets a few incidents that saw him almost give up on football.
Signed by SC Villa at the start of the 2011/12 season after finishing top scorer in the annual Masaza Cup, Musana failed to have an impact at the club.
“I don’t think I failed at SC Villa but somehow I rushed to join the club,” Musana tells this reporter. “There were so many great players at the club then and I was just from school. Had never played in the super league and thus was getting used to the division,” he explains.
Musana was signed by Serbian coach Srdan Zivojnov aka Zivo who was shortly relieved of his duties following a poor start to the season and Musana thinks his replacement Mike Mutebi brought a different philosophy to the club.
“It’s always hard when a coach who signed you is sacked. I found myself in a difficult situation when Zivo was replaced with Mike Mutebi. He brought in a new philosophy and found it difficult to adapt so he loaned me to Water FC.
Nevertheless, Musana has kind words for the ex-Cranes coach and he now realizes how good a teacher he was for the short time they worked together.
Mike is a great coach. I realize that now and I blame my big headedness then for failure to work under him. He taught me lots of things and gave me a lot of confidence which is helping me now. I was impatient and ended up losing footage at the club.
Musana spent just half a season at Water FC but didn’t perform well enough to earn him a recall to his parent club thus ended up at Kira Young FC.
It was at Kira that he almost quit football due to frustrations.
“Kira Young signed me after impressing for Water and I believe the goal I scored against KCC FC is the reason they sought my signature. However, they didn’t pay me according to contract and I quit.
“I thought for a while and decided to give up on football and concentrate on school again. I joined Ntinda View SS where I re-sat my ‘A’ Level examinations.
Asked why he had decided to give up his dream of playing football, his reply was simple. “Football wasn’t paying as I thought.”
But in his vacation, Musana decided to look for a job and ended up at Saints FC where he was welcomed with open hands.
“I vowed to use this chance carefully by working hard for the team and it paid. I scored 6 goals in 10 games (all in the second round) and that was the turning point.
Ending up at KCB FC
His return didn’t go unnoticed not only at the club but in the region too something he attributes to The Saint FC official website.
“The website played a great role as scouts from KCB FC were following each and everything. It’s how I ended up here and will always treasure my time at The Saints.
Though he was bought for his goal scoring exploits, Musana has been consistently as a right sided offensive midfielder and only a few times has he played as a centre forward.
But he doesn’t care where he plays as long as the coach trusts his abilities in a position.
“Coach Rishad Shedu (formerly at Mbale Heroes & Express FC) put faith in me and played me a right winger and had nothing to do but work hard to repay his faith,” he said.
“My success so far at the club is attributed to hard work, great team mates who always encourage me and also belief.
Following the departure of centre forward Mungai Kiongera to Tanzania, Musana is now being played in his preferred centre forward role and has bagged 3 goals so far.
Asked to make a comparison between football back home and in Kenya, the striker was bold to state.
The KPL is more organised, the exposure is high, pitches are better plus motivation is too high. For instance, at KCB; we have a club house with a fully equipped gym, swimming pool, bar and restaurant. Kits are provided and salaries are far better and gotten on time. Latest is 30th but they normally come on 25th.
In his career so far, he has played with many great players but he picks Mungai Kiongera, Steven Bengo, Sula Bagala, Zachary Onyango and Feni Ali as some of the best ever.