The crisis in Enyimba has taken a different twist after coach Finiidi George openly criticized the management of the team for the recent poor run of the club, which culminated in the early exit from the African Football League following a 4-0 aggregate loss to Wydad AC of Morocco.
The Peoples Elephant have been in the eye of the storm after the reigning NPFL champions suffered a 1-0 home defeat and a 3-0 loss in Casablanca to the Moroccan side to exit the prestigious competition. This followed a crushing exit from the CAF Champions League in the preliminary round.
Consequently, the Nwankwo Kanu-led management read a riot act to the coaches and players of the club, and this has not gone down well with Finidi, who blamed the administrators for their woes.
In an interview with selected journalists, Finidi has shed light on the internal issues that played a role in Enyimba’s downfall in the AFL, saying lack of proper recruitment to replace key players is one of the factors against them
“At the level of the AFL, you must have a strong squad to stand any chance. We lost our top scorer (Emeka Obioma) and our highest assist provider (Sadiq Abubakar).”We also lost so many other top players whose experience would have been needed in the AFL. But nothing was done to replace them.”
He also accused the management of not consulting the coaches during the registration of players for the tournaments.
“Ideally, before registering players for any competition, the coaches must be consulted to submit the list. But that wasn’t the case here.
“For whatever flimsy reason, we were not consulted, and they did the registration themselves. As a result, some of the players we would have needed were not registered,” he added.
The former Real Betis star insisted that the management shouldn’t have pointed fingers at the coaches and players when general internal disorganization led the team to the abyss.
“We arrived in Uyo with the idea to have as many training sessions as possible on the grass pitch since we are more used to our synthetic pitch.
“But we couldn’t achieve that because the management failed to make the right arrangements with the stadium authorities. It was obvious that we were at a disadvantage as a team used to artificial pitches.”
In response to a recent press release from the club’s management that placed blame on the coaching staff for the team’s woes, Finidi George stated,
“The issue with the team is obvious, and it has nothing to do with the coaches. The same coaches won the league with fewer goals conceded and highest goal scored.”
Despite these challenges, Finidi insists he remains committed to leading Enyimba and will face Niger Tornadoes in a Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) Match Day 6 encounter in Kaduna.
The former Ajax Amsterdam star led Enyimba to lift the NPFL title last season.
