Hello everyone.
We’re back again, because we are committed to going the whole hog with you this season, irrespective of the challenges and results that trail Enyimba FC’s campaign this term. In all honesty, it’s been underwhelming, and it has in turn dampened the mood of our boisterous fan base and lowered whatever expectations we held at the start of the season.
The blog has been on a weeklong hiatus. During a dry patch or bad spell in one’s profession, vocation or any other interest, psychologists often advise healthy escapism: using temporary breaks to recharge emotionally, spark creativity and lower stress levels, without abandoning responsibilities.
That was the case after the People’s Elephant suffered a 1-0 defeat to Nasarawa United in Lafia last Sunday, extending our winless run. The result closed out our October fixtures and left us 19th on the table. The month opened with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Plateau United that gave us belief we had a platform to turn the corner, but a careless 4-2 loss in Katsina and a tame goalless draw against Warri Wolves in Aba showed we are far from out of the woods.
As in September, Enyimba earned four points this month. If that pattern holds, we could finish the season with a paltry 36 points, a total not good enough to escape relegation. The good news is that sporting contests do not follow a linear or sequential process. An uptick in results can make a mockery of the most painstaking projections of seasoned punters.
If form alone decided final placings, our next opponents, Kun Khalifat, who looked dead and buried last season, would not have retained their topflight status for another year. They sat bottom of the table for a long spell before flickering into life in the home stretch, going unbeaten in their final six matches and winning five, including two away from home in Umuahia and Lafia.
Enyimba can take a cue from the visitors and start an early revival with an emphatic win over them in Aba on Sunday. The Owerri-based side made their topflight debut last season and began life in the elite division playing home matches in Aba, but returned to Owerri before our first meeting and inflicted on us our first defeat of the season. When they came back to Aba for the reverse fixture, Obinna Uzoho’s boys showed a mastery of the turf they had borrowed earlier in the season and walked away with a share of the spoils in a 1-1 draw. The newest entrants to the Oriental Derby remain unbeaten against the People’s Elephant.
This unpleasant record and poor spell need to change, and quickly too. The fans feel a deep disconnect between their lifelong loyalty and what they perceive as a lack of effort, passion or tactical competence from the players, technical staff and management. And it’s breeding apathy. The initial anger that comes from poor performances and results eventually burns out into a quiet, crushing resignation. Fans start skipping matches, leaving early, or watching games with a sense of dread rather than excitement.
The joy of matchday gives way to anxiety over the club’s long-term competitive future. The home stadium becomes a pressure cooker: loud boos at the final whistle, sarcastic cheers for basic completed passes, and audible chants calling for the coach to be sacked or the board to resign. These extreme scenarios become reality when the fans’ patience is stretched to the limits of its elasticity without an immediate reversal of this slide and far-reaching corrective measures.
The first quarter of the season is done, and it produced a mixed bag. It started with a four-match losing streak, followed by a three-game unbeaten run, before ending with three winless outings. The second quarter, and the remainder of the first half of the season, must deliver better and more sustained results if we intend to turn things around early and avoid being dragged into the relegation dogfight again.
Enyimba FC are condemned to win on Sunday to open November and build from there. Anything less than maximum points would compound our woes and deepen our misery. Let’s make hay while the sun shines.
EnyimbaEnyi!
