*FC Ifeanyi Ubah Chairman, Chukwuma Ubah reacts to Kenichi's dismissal, says he was a nightmare and terrible mistake, not good enough to coach any team with lofty aspirations*

While the news of the dismissal of Kenichi Yatshuhashi as the Head Coach of FC Ifeanyi Ubah did not come as a surprise due to players and fans' anger, many of whom were disgruntled and disillusioned by Kenichi's display of technical incompetence, regressive training regime and disregard for the Management, the Chairman of the Anambra based club and FC Cup Champions, Chukwuma Ubah has revealed the underlying reasons that saw the sledgehammer descend on Japanese coach, Kenichi Yatsuhashi sooner than expected.

“You do know we are a very professional outfit, driven by excellence while aiming for success and achievement of any stipulated goal at any point in time” began the charismatic Chukwuma Ubah.

“When the position of the Head Coach became vacant, we immediately swung into action to scour the planet for the perfect man for the job who had the right experience, passion, vision and above all, team spirit in order to help us achieve our lofty ambitions in the forthcoming season” he said.

"We identified acting Head Coach, Black Stars of Ghana, Yaw Preko who we believed had a reputable pedigree to take our club to the next level. However, Yaw Preko whom we held in high regards suggested Kenichi Yatsuhashi to us based on his previous working relationship with him and we adhered which Yaw Preko who is still with us can attest to. This was the biggest mistake we made as we failed to carry out our due diligence on whom we sought to employ, depending solely on the recommendation of his former assistant".

"All demands, financial and otherwise made by Kenichi were met by the club, including all the requests which the club deemed as exorbitant and irrelevant. We did all we could to make him comfortable as we wanted results."

"The first red flags were raised when Kenichi started disbanding the team, leaving out our major star players including national team players Ikechukwu Ezenwa, Stephen Eze, Adeleye Olamilekan, Tamen Medrano, Kojo Baah, Wasiu Jimoh amongst a host others. This action led to the exit of some of our core players who were frustrated at being frozen out, notably Ismaila Gata, Bello Koformata and Okereke Maduabuchi. While we got torrents of complaints from the players, we allowed him to take his chosen and preferred route as we felt he had a masterplan. His training regimes were strange as he totally eliminated aerobics while insisting that the players undergo massive weight lifting, lifting weights as heavy as 100kg across 100 metres, culminating in lots of injuries. While all these were not approved by the club, we overlooked his actions on the back of his assumed expertise".

It will be recalled that the romance was short lived as Kenichi Yatsuhashi did not last beyond 30 days in that portfolio as he was sent packing even before the NPFL Super 4 Tournament held in Enugu came to an end as FC Ifeanyi had performed not only woefully but were utterly dismembered by the oppositions they played under the Japanese.

On the woeful display at the NPFL Super 4 and the eventual dismissal of Kenichi, Chairman of FC Ifanyi Ubah explained further. "On the 6th of December, when the team landed in Enugu for the NPFL Super4, Management had a routine meeting. During the course of the meeting, Kenichi was requested to give an explanation as to why our major players were left at home especially Tamen Medrano, Kojo Baah and Wasiu Jimoh. To our greatest surprise, Kenichi clearly irritated by the question responded "If I do not win the Super 4, sack me" and he stormed out of the meeting. I tried calling him back and he ignored me. Despite the blatant disregard for hierarchy, I overlooked his behaviour because he had set a goal for himself. I had prayed he did not just shoot himself in the foot. I had wanted him to prove everyone wrong, even the fans.

Use African coaches... Foreigners are not really as good as they are made out to look although some are good. It's good he was sacked, so he doesn't get a feeling he's a super man above the law... Btw which big team has he coached before that's making him think he's one big coach, Japan is not exactly known for her football prowess.

Na so