Good morning Gents and Ladies,

Our sorry attempt at honoring an NPFL Game ended in tatters. A late goal in the first half was all Elkanemi needed and the 3 points was added to their points tally on the table. Your Darling Elephant meanwhile head back homeward, very emptyhanded.

That paragraph should suffice for you, or shouldn’t it? I should end the blog right here, thank you for visiting, promise to return tomorrow and just push my device away and get a shuteye. But that would be cowardly – I should be able to face my fight and give it my all. Again, I have also learnt that one of my tonics for soothing football induced anger, is to pull out my device and write.

We may never know what the scoreline of this fixture would have been. It’s hard to tell. It is hard to ignore the fact that this team spent 3 days on the road and will spend another 3 days on the road back to Aba to face Ikorodu City. Remember also, they were just fresh from a long gurelsome away game in Ibadan.

It is an absolute disgrace that Kanu Nwankwo, Ifeanyi Ekwueme and the rest of the so called Enyimba leadership can think that this is the way to run a football club. These are guys that were professional footballers not too long ago. Yet, they are showing that they haven’t got a clue as to the fundamentals of player welfare. It is an absolute disgrace.

One day we will get into all the details but for starts, this is Enyimba Football Club. A club built from the scratch by the sweat and blood of others, the least you can do is to wake up to the reality that this is a professional football club. In football we are quick to say players aren’t good enough to wear the badge of the club. Here.i tell you, this lot, running Enyimba haven’t got a clue.

Leave aside the issue of traveling 3 days on the road prior to an away game up North, how about player welfare? How many match bonuses are paid and how many are owed this season? I don’t want to touch last season’s arrears. I will. Someday soon. Again, what is the quality of the arrangement made for food and the wellbeing of the team? Are we a professional football club or a roadside academy?

I don’t fault the coach or the boys for this result. A lapse in concentration deep into added time can only be blamed on fatigue. You’ve put in 45 minutes on the back of a long uncomfortable trip. You’ve defended stoutly and halftime is almost here and then tragedy. The boys had a decent showing in the second period but of course, getting a win in Northern Nigeria is a totally different ask.

Afterwards the gaffer said – “We struggled in the first half due to fatigue, but improved in the second half… I think the ref should have added more time instead of just three minutes but I can’t question the officiating because it’s not in my right to do so“. Safe to say, I couldn’t have said it better myself. I’ll love to meet and talk with him someday – Coach Yema. I think he is one of the most talented coaches of the game in the country. He speaks well and he looks like the players listen to him.

As a club, we must put our house in order, give the players and the coaching crew the best and most enabling environment to succeed. The management must wake up to its responsibilities and stop making excuses. Did anyone see that pathetic response to why they didn’t fly the team to Maidugiri? Shameful.

For the fans, we need to get this result out of our system – realign our focus on what needs to be done and keep supporting the team.

Back tomorrow.

‘EnyimbaEnyi