It’s a new week!
Mondays are important, busy and, sometimes, exhausting. We have to quickly recalibrate from the relaxation of the weekend to the demands of the first workday, even when some of us are still nursing a hangover of one kind or another. Yet, somehow, we are expected to remain mentally alert and ready to face the day.
For football fans, Mondays come with their own peculiar demands. We look forward to taunting colleagues whose teams have lost, or preparing ourselves to be taunted when ours have suffered defeat. Of late, the average Enyimba fan has been on the receiving end of that exchange more often than we would like. Last season, we even had to endure relegation banter. But, as always, we move.
This season, however, has offered little relief so far. We are still searching for our first victory, have conceded twice in each of our two matches, and have yet to appear in front of our home supporters. From the curtain-raiser in Minna, where we may have felt shortchanged, to Saturday’s trip to Gombe, where we were arguably fortunate to leave with only two goals conceded, the average Enyimba fan is already standing at an uncomfortable crossroads.
But it is only two matches into the season, and writing off the entire campaign on the strength of two away fixtures would be unfair. In a league where teams sometimes celebrate away draws like title victories, context matters. We need to see this team play in front of our supporters in Aba before drawing firm conclusions about what this season may become.
Until then, the feeling that certain departments might perform better with more quality personnel remains a legitimate concern—but, for now, it is still only a concern.
Beyond the early poor results, however, there have also been developments around the club that have drawn perhaps as much attention to the management as to the football itself. The suggestion that all may not be well behind the scenes is troubling. A civil war, real or perceived, is hardly the ideal environment for a team that is expected to rebuild, regain its confidence and return to the standards expected of the People’s Elephant.
There is still plenty of time to assess this team properly. It is too early to write them off. But it is also too early to expect a divided team to mount a serious challenge.
For now, we watch, we wait, and we hope that what we see in Aba gives us better reasons to believe.
Igwe bụ ike, always!
Enyimba Enyi!
