Tonnerre Yaounde's defeat of Deportivo Mongomo in a Caf Cup clash on Sunday, marked the Cameroonian team's return to African club football.

Roger Milla's former club, once dreaded throughout Africa, had failed to qualify for any African club competition since 1992.

Poor leadership and lack of money, as the national recession kept their teeming fans away from the turnstiles, hit the club hard.

Even the return of the legendary Milla in 1993 did not help.

Milla was in search for a 1994 World Cup place with the Indomitable Lions and signed for Tonnerre to keep in shape.

But the team was beaten in the finals of the Cameroon Cup by Canon Yaounde. It was Tonnerre's best performance in domestic football last decade.

In-fighting

Tonnerre has acutely lacked an infusion of fresh talent.

Gen. Pierre Semengue, who resigned as Tonnerre's chairman in 1998, had his efforts to revitalise the club frustrated by ethnic conflict.

Semengue, a former chief of army staff in Cameroon, was regarded as an outsider by disgruntled fans, as he did not come from Yaounde.

Managerial instability has also played a role in Tonnerre's decline. Four managers were hired by the club in the 1999/2000 season alone.

New blood

Following Semengue's departure, Antoine Essomba Eyenga, a Yaounde local, took over Tonnerre's mantle of leadership.

Essomba transformed the club into a sports company, selling talented players to clubs in Turkey and Greece.

Money earned from foreign transfers have been ploughed back into the team.

The cash infusion played a key role in Tonnerre's impressive performance last season, where they were runners-up in the league.

With players receiving competitive salaries, Tonnerre could be in contention for greater things this year.

It would not be too soon for fans, desperate for a return to the glory days of the 1970's, when the club was feared throughout the continent.