₦airaland Forum

Moses Simon starts for Nantes

chrisooblog:
awon "Ndidi has lost his position to Mendy" apologists how far?

Pride no go allow them apologize ,when we Dey tell them then dem Dey talk nonsense I come Dey wonder Wetin make these guys Dey talk like this with so much confidence ,you go think say mendy na casemeiro or Kante

mostob:
Every club no be like chelsea na. We no dey shack coach anyhow.

Till you see your self for championship

That’s why Chelsea are successful than you guys recently

Ndidi is wonderful

andrewbaba44:
Remember when arsenal sold Alex iwobi to fund fraudcolas Pepe transfer

they have just been making mistakes. first they sold gnabry because of iwobi, then they sold iwobi for Pepe.

andrewbaba44:
Till you see your self for championship
That’s why Chelsea are successful than you guys recently

na here we dey

JohnBullMySon:
they have just been making mistakes. first they sold gnabry because of iwobi, then they sold iwobi for Pepe.

You won’t blame them for gnabry own as dude was not a proven player bro and hardly got chances at arsenal

They didn’t sell gnabry because of iwobi ,they are both academy players playing in different positions

hmmm pretty long read but the person that will clean Nigerian football has serious work on his hands

INSIDERS who are privy to the workings of the League Management Committee, LMC, claim that there is little transparency in the management of the NPFL and that clubs are habitually shortchanged “while the leadership keep lining their pockets and smiling to the bank”.

In a bid to unravel the actual state of things at the LMC and NPFL, KOLAPO OLAPOJU undertook this investgaton and these are his findings.

Dikko’s dealing

Shehu Dikko, chairman of the LMC, was among the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, leadership investigated in 2019 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC, and the dissolved Special Presidential Investigation Panel, SPIP, over allegations of corruption and misappropriation of funds.

Mediterrenean Sports Ltd, a company which Dikko once served as director, plays the role of marketing agent for the NFF. The company receives 20% commission on sponsorship contracts with the NFF. As the second vice president of NFF and chairman of marketing, sponsorship and broadcast and TV rights sub-committee, Dikko finds himself in a convenient position of influence. His prior relationship with Mediterrenean also constitutes a conflict of interest with duty, and a violation of the section 5 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act 1991.



This conflict of interest was one of the impetus for the setting up of a committee by the ministry of youth and sports to look into the activities of the NFF. Around the time the committee was mandated to carry out its investigation in 2018, documents obtained show that the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, verified and approved the resolution for removal of Dikko as a director at Mediterrenean Sports.

But curiously, the date for the resolution of removal was dated March 13, 2014, which means the CAC did not approve until four years later.



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Although Mediterrenean Sports acts as a marketing agent to the NFF, there is no record of the company being appointed to undertake the task. There is also no evidence that the executive committee of the NFF ratified the appointment of Mediterranean Sports as NFF marketing agent.

Several documents obtained show that Pinnick authorized Financial Derivatives to make multiple payments to Mediterrenean Sports. But in April 2018, Pinnick wrote a letter of appreciation to Isima Ekere, former managing director of Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, over the promise to release funds to support the Super Eagles World Cup campaign. Deviating from the usual norm of presenting the account number of Financial Derivatives for payment, Pinnick instead provided the Ecobank details of Mediterranean Sports.

All efforts to contact representatives or officials of Mediterrenean Sports Ltd proved abortive. During a visit to the registered address of the company, it was discovered that there is no ‘Plot 1467’, rather a ‘No 42’ Hon. Justice Mamman Nasir Crescent Asokoro Abuja. Also, the building houses Mediterrenean Hotel and the workers said they have never heard of a Mediterrenean Sports Ltd.



In a petition addressed to FIFA, Harrison Jalla also alleged that Dikko failed to honour the contract between NFF and LMC, which states that the latter must remit 5% of its net earnings to the former. Rather than make the payment, he was said to have presented an account of expenditure on how the money was spent.







Dikko was also alleged to have failed to give accounts of sales of tickets, advertisements, broadcast and television rights for friendly matches played by the Super Eagles.

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Supersport-LMC contract

In 2013, the league signed a five-year deal with Supersport to show two NPFL matches every weekend. The five year deal, which was to kickstart at the commencement of the 2015 season, amounted to a reported $8.5 million annually.

That deal was supposed to be the start of the new dawn of the league, with the television package expected to increase visibility and attractiveness. According to an insider, “the deal was more like a corporate social responsibility on the part of Supersport”, owing to the fact that it was not favourable to them financially.

“The only way Supersport could have made money was through advertisement placement and sponsorship, but since that is not prevalent in the Nigerian league, Supersport could not recoup its television rights investment in the league,” the source said.

To produce one match at the time, it cost Supersport a conservative N5 million per match day to cater to logistics and crew finances. This continued for years until 2017 when the naira’s fortunes took a downturn. Consequently, Supersport resolved to renegotiate the terms of the contract, so as to pay in naira. Failing to reach a compromise, the deal suffered a premature death.

To legally pull out of the deal, Supersport cited breach of contract on the part of LMC “because there were actually several breaches”. Supersports was said to have pulled out of the deal following allegations of funds mismanagement, embezzlement and lack of accountability. That was how Supersport stopped showing the league.

Despite receiving millions of dollars annually from Supersports between 2015 and 2017, the LMC was unable to adequately develop and standardize the NPFL so as to make it attractive to fans and brands.

Why NPFL is unattractive

When compared to the South African league, the NPFL is perceived as below-par in many aspects. Issues such as player remuneration challenges, fan attitude, playing environment, organization, poor coaching and refereeing contribute to the failure of the league to live up to its potential. “All these things make it hard for fans to forge a connection with the local teams and get sponsorship,” according to the chairman of a north-west top tier club.

Poor remuneration

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Although some football players are paid monthly allowances as much as N800,000, the payment does not come as promptly as expected. Most clubs tend to owe players for long periods of time. In 2011, Kaduna United players were not paid for 9 months despite having a record-breaking goalscorer like Jude Aneke in their team at the time.

Delayed remuneration is not the only problem, allegations of referees getting bribed to fix matches are also rampant. Some referees are even believed to collect money from both sides.

Although referees are paid per game by the NFF, an insider at the LMC alleged that there are situations whereby home teams pay referees and offer them other forms of gifts – which will undoubtedly influence officiating.

In the NPFL, there is a popular notion that it would take a miracle for a home team to lose a game, as a result of the aforementioned inducement.

Bayelsa United Football Club Head Coach Tiebowei Diprieye believes that the “home team must win” syndrome is crippling the league.

He said: “We would like a situation where teams can go away with the mindset that they can win games. We should be able to get rid of this notion that to win an away match in Nigeria is difficult.”

In the last full season of the NPFL (2018/19) which had 264 games, there were only 28 away victories – which represents a 10.6% away victory ratio. The away win ratio of the English Premier League last season was 31%. Since the EPL was founded in the 1992/1993 season, the lowest away win ratio has been 24% which was obtainable in two back to back seasons; 2009/2010 and 2010/2011.

NPFL 2018/2019 away win ratio



Administrative problems

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The administration of the league by the LMC leaves a lot to be desired as it seems to take its cue from the NFF. Whenever there is a crisis at the NFF, the LMC would by effect become unstable, case in point is the leadership tussle between Chris Giwa and Amaju Pinnick in 2018 which led to the suspension of the NPFL after 24 games.

During that season, there was no champion and no relegation. A player who chose to remain anonymous described it as a “wasted season”.

A recent addition at Akwa United, Harrison Ibukun believes that the stakeholders at the LMC know what to do to improve the league yet there is no significant improvement.

Kano Pillars forward player, Nyima Nwagua, highlighted key areas where improvement would be welcome. “The areas I think we should look into is the calendar and sponsorship side,” he said. Nwagua’s concern regarding the League calendar is not unfounded. Rescheduling of NPFL games is a norm. The reasons for these vary, and they all have one thing in common – poor planning. An example of poor planning was when continental engagements of Lobi stars and Rangers international led to the rescheduling of several games during the 2018/19 season.

“A situation where the league is stable, and nothing interrupts the season when it is on would go a long way to improve the league,” Nwagua added.

Flying Eagles striker, Jesse Akila believes that improving the welfare of the players would improve the league. He noted that “players should travel to match venues with proper means. For instance, a flight for any trip that is longer than a six-hour drive”.

Poor facilities & insecurity

Several stadiums across the country are in terrible condition and as a result, it scares fans away. In March 2020, Chineme Martins, a 22-year-old Nasarawa United defender, slumped and died in a football match against FC Abuja. He could have been saved but the ambulance at the stadium was non-functional and there was no working defibrillator.

Commenting on the sorry state of stadium infrastructure, Bayelsa United coach Diprieye noted that “If you do not have good infrastructure, good management, good welfare, It will be very difficult for us to move forward”.

Apart from the infrastructure challenge, no one is safe when watching a live match in the NPFL. In most games, there exists the threat of insecurity. Fans of home teams, more often than not, come to stadiums bearing arms – machetes, stones and sticks. When things don’t go their way, they storm the pitch, beat up referees, coaches and their opponents.

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While serving as coach of Enyimba several years ago, Kadiri Ikhana’s legs were severely damaged after he was beaten up by home fans during a game in Kaduna.

Situations such as this make it difficult for away teams to be at their best and for referees to be as fair as possible with their decisions.

According to an official of a south-west club who craved anonymity, home clubs sometimes instigate fan violence to scare referees and away teams. In the event of violence, they are fined between N500, 000 to N5 million and this is easily payable by most club owners – which are state governments.

To make matters worse, there is a lot of laxity regarding implementation of penalties on fan violence by the LMC and critics opine that they need to be stiffer.

“Presently, the penalties include fines, exile from your home stadium for an entire season, which is not an effective deterrent because most of the fans lack the necessary emotional connection to the clubs so as to discourage them from perpetrating violence when their clubs are no longer playing in town,” an LMC employee said.

Ndidi treating Ndombele like a toy

andrewbaba44:
Pride no go allow them apologize ,when we Dey tell them then dem Dey talk nonsense I come Dey wonder Wetin make these guys Dey talk like this with so much confidence ,you go think say mendy na casemeiro or Kante

Abi

Sadiq starts

Subzero047:
Moses Simon starts for Nantes

we underrate moses simon in this forum. if he keeps things up he might end up in a big team ike atalanta or leipzig

wanted to post the full article but spambot has blocked me here's the link anyway

https://www.icirnigeria.org/investigation-poor-pay-shaky-structure-zero-transparency-sound-death-knell-for-nigerias-premier-football-league/

BascoVanVeli, Icons4, Kog45

Aiyegun Tosin starts

Philosopher1979:
we underrate moses simon in this forum. if he keeps things up he might end up in a big team ike atalanta or leipzig

Minus me forgiveness and few others

andrewbaba44:
Pride no go allow them apologize ,when we Dey tell them then dem Dey talk nonsense I come Dey wonder Wetin make these guys Dey talk like this with so much confidence ,you go think say mendy na casemeiro or Kante

no mind them.

Philosopher1979:
we underrate moses simon in this forum. if he keeps things up he might end up in a big team ike atalanta or leipzig

Atlanta and Leipzig are big team. Really?

I don't know whether I am correct though. I feel ndidi operates more effectively in defensive midfield role when not paired . I also feel Rhor should adopt this 4-1-4-1 formation. Seriously that guy is a monster there now.

You can read more about the Nairaland Nigerian Football Fans awards here

http://scorerfootballmagazine.com/victor-osimhen-is-nairaland-nigeria-player-of-the-year-2020/

Chrisbro2:
wanted to post the full article but spambot has blocked me here's the link anyway

https://www.icirnigeria.org/investigation-poor-pay-shaky-structure-zero-transparency-sound-death-knell-for-nigerias-premier-football-league/

BascoVanVeli, Icons4, Kog45

Amaju Pinick should be sacked. the huy is a thief
the lmc should also be disdolved. the people in charge are irresponsible

INDIDI!!!!!!!!

My apologies to those that have Kane in their FPL

Including me

chuks404:
I don't know whether I am correct though. I feel ndidi operates more effectively in defensive midfield role when not paired . I also feel Rhor should adopt this 4-1-4-1 formation. Seriously that guy is a monster there now.

The more attacking players in a team the more Ndidi flourishes

but no herr rohr will pack defensive midfielders alongside Ndidi.

i don't think rohr has ever played a game without a double pivot

Subzero047:
The more attacking players in a team the more Ndidi flourishes

chrisooblog:
but no herr rohr will pack defensive midfielders alongside Ndidi.

i don't think rohr has ever played a game without a double pivot

I am not supporting rohr But if I may ask how many attacking midfielders do you have in your team ?

Philosopher1979:
Amaju Pinick should be sacked. the huy is a thief
the lmc should also be disdolved. the people in charge are irresponsible

So Amaju is now the one running Lock Abi?

andrewbaba44:
I am not supporting rohr But if I may ask how many attacking midfielders do you have in your team ?

Ask dem, na only to open mouth waaaaA........ Dey yarn dem sbi

WoooooWoo-hoo..........

I saw Southgate viewing the thread,
Oga Komekn, abi how I want write am sef, how far your side na

[quote author=chrisooblog post=97262529][/quote] I know say una dey top of the table

Ndidi appreciation every where.



Buh yet "he'll struggle to make Leicester starting 11". Definitely has to be the Gaffe of the year