The masterstroke that never was

Thuso Palai | Wednesday March 4, 2015 17:20

After a protected period of looking for a substantive CEO, Botswana Football Association (BFA) President Tebogo Sebego unleashed a Briton in Keith Masters.  It was said his vast experience in football administration had tipped the scale in his favour. I remember the day he was introduced to the media as if it was yesterday. He cut a bold, confident figure here for business.  He came across as a gentleman who appreciated that his work was cut out for him, but had confidence that he would do well.

He set out his goals and some of the words that came out of his mouth at that Press conference were 'financial prudence', 'commercialisation' and 'development'.  I had hoped that finally we had identified someone who would steer the ship in the right direction as he was saying all the right things from the onset. He was definitely talking the talk, but was he to also walk the walk. Did he achieve what he had set out to do? Did he make any difference in his short stint at the helm of the BFA? Those are million dollar questions that we are all asking as Keith Masters vacates office.  

For a long time, Keith Masters had been skating on thin ice. And it was no surprise when it was announced that the BFA had parted ways with him. For sometime, it was a question of WHEN rather than IF. We all knew that he would get the sack at some point. Early this week, we were told that the two parties have parted company and that; ‘The decision to mutually terminate the contract of employment was not based on any wrong doing on the part of the Association or of Mr Masters. The decision was purely based on the interest of both parties and what was best for the development of Football in Botswana’. This is a very loaded, politically correct statement.

In his time at the helm, Masters has never settled. He never gained the confidence of many at the Lekidi, in the media fraternity and the public at large.  From the onset, he never really stamped his authority and never won the confidence of his peers at Lekidi. The same gaffes that were the order of the day before he came cropped up from time to time and he was immediately under scrutiny. Clashes with some staff members, and some NEC members didn’t help him much. His public spat with his countryman and National team coach Peter James Butler also contributed to his demise as much as his somewhat ‘blown out of proportion’ illicit material saga. These two broke the camel’s back and the BFA had no choice but to pull the trigger, after many months of dilly-dallying.

As much as we can vilify the man and label him a failure, he made his contribution to Botswana football. Maybe not as much as we had anticipated, but he did try his best. He was thrown into the deep end and he failed to float. Notwithstanding that, the BFA has its challenges and whoever takes over from him will face the same challenges. It will be a matter of whether they swim or sink. As for Masters he failed to swim, and he got the boot.

This is a classic case of a Master stroke that never was. What was supposed to be a Sebego Masterstroke tuned out to be somewhat of a dud. What started with hope and promise, has ended prematurely with not much visible success. We can only thank Mr Keith Masters for his contribution and wish him well. As for the BFA, the search for a successor starts, and it’s not going to be easy.