It has been unusually quiet since that defeat in Ilorin.
Not the calm kind of quiet but the heavy, suffocating silence that settles after something painful. Because that loss hurt. Deeply. And the worst part wasn’t even the result itself, but the fake glimmer of a comeback that flickered briefly… only for us to collapse in the execution. If anything captures Enyimba’s current reality, it is exactly that: effort without direction, fight without structure, movement without meaning.
Let’s be honest, our first half in Ilorin was bland. Colourless. Soulless. And unlike some teams, we can’t even blame the pitch. This version of Enyimba is endured more than it is enjoyed. All the qualities that once defined us — crisp passing, smart buildup play, purposeful runs, fluid organization, flair, instinct, swagger — have packed their bags and left town. What remains is a hollow shadow of a club that once terrified the continent. Even the stats, which used to sing our praises, now read like recycled bad news. Exhausting to repeat, but impossible to ignore.
There is an urgent need for action. Serious action. Many will say, “Start by hiring a coach.” True. But a coach doesn’t fix a contaminated ecosystem. If we bring in another manager under the same restrictions, the same flawed recruitment, the same poor welfare, the same chaotic administration, and the same broken environment, we should set a reminder on our phones for next November — because we’ll be right back here again. Not pessimism. Just predictable.
January is approaching, and the transfer window should be our lifeline. But even that rope is tangled. As of November 3rd, Enyimba sits on FIFA’s registration ban list. Before we even dream of signing new players, that mess must be cleared. How a club of this stature keeps tumbling into administrative potholes so frequently is a mystery that should embarrass everyone who claims to be in charge.
So where exactly do we go from here?
Hire a competent coach? Yes.
Sign better players? Absolutely.
But if we throw them into the same broken system, same confusion, same off-field weakness, same lack of structure… we might as well expect a duck to fly like an eagle.
Next up is an Oriental Derby in Aba against Rangers. But if we are not careful, our fate may mirror that of our brothers in Owerri. The warning signs are not subtle. They are flashing like emergency sirens.
This silence after Ilorin is not peace. It is the calm before either a revival… or another storm.
EnyimbaEnyi 💙
