As questions keep rising about the problems facing the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL), a call has come for the improvement of pitches, club structures, administrative style, players’ welfare and refereeing.
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Sports247 reports that this charge is coming from a well-travelled coach and instructor, Akande Fatai Adejumo Smith, who pointed out that NPFL clubs face a myriad of challenges that are avoidable.
The smooth-talking coach expressed his view during ‘Hot Seat’ segment on Inside Naija Sports, a live streaming programme on YouTube from the studio of Sports247 Naija TV, starting at 11:45am every Friday.
Coach Smith, who currently handles Vinod Football Academy of Lagos, began by affirming that issues affecting the Nigerian league include problems of organisation, infrastructure, laxity of administrators and misdirected focus of clubs.
He expatiated, “There are a lot of problems with the Nigerian league, but the basic one is structure. A lot of people are there just going round in circles.
“When I say structure, I mean not only facilties, but also what the teams look like and what they are doing. What are their goals and objectives.
“They need to answer these questions … Which level are you playing? Are you an amateur team, semi-pro or fully pro? These are factors that are overlooked by most of our clubs.
“For example, being an amateur club should be more about developing players. It’s not meant to be largely about winning games, but most of them want to win every match. That means they are missing it.”
The articulate tactician, who played professional football in Singapore and Malaysia during his active days, is now a member of the Association of Football Coaches of African Nations (AFCAN), then took a specific look at issues affecting NPFL teams.
“In the pro-level, there should be set objectives that they should focus on. But, do our league clubs set out what they want to achieve? Do they do it as it is done in the Western world?
“Over there, they set targets for each season, and they don’t deceive themselves. A club here in Nigeria should know when they can’t win the league title and face other targets.
“They should admit that they can’t win the title, and the next thing they should then do is just concentrate on maintaining a spot in the top division and not be relegated.
“That does not happen in the NPFL. Do you think any club in Nigeria will be in the league to compete alone and just focus on how to avoid relegation? Every club wants to win the title.
“They look at Enyimba, Rangers and Remo that have won it, then say they want to also win it. The management will then give their coach an impossible task to win the league, even if they do not have quality players to do it.
“That’s where problems start for each of the clubs. They will then sack the coach and always fail to allow continuity in all aspects of their teams,” Smith posited.
He concluded with a verdict that, apart from internal issues affecting each club in the league, they also face external factors that often pose as high hurdles to cross while prosecuting each season.
Coach Smith submitted emphatically, “After confronting internal issues within their club, they will face external variables that also affect them drastically.
“The variables that affect clubs in Nigeria are bad pitches, biased referees, poor welfare, ineffective administrators and lack of proper arrangement of matches.
“In fact, organisation of matches is a major issue that affects many Nigerian clubs. To play a single league match is so, so demanding. There’s a lot to think about – logistics, gate taking, crowd control and so on…”
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