Many Nigerian football clubs have consistently recorded bad results in local and international competitions and the hope of turning them around has led to more frustrations

It was a moment of disappointment, rage and disenchantment among fans of some of the big clubs when the 2010/2011 Nigerian Premier League ended November 13.  Many clubs that started the football season with high hopes of winning the Premier League or making serious impact in the season ended up in frustration. Some of the clubs include Enyimba of Aba, Heartland of Owerri, Lobi Stars of Makurdi, JUTH of Jos, Rangers of Enugu, Shooting Stars of Ibadan, Plateau United, Kwara United and Sharks of Port Harcourt.  

Enyimba of Aba won the Premier League last year and was expected to retain the title this year. The club recruited more talented players for the task ahead and also to prosecute the Confederation of Africa Football, CAF Champions League. The club recorded some good results in the beginning of the season, but later lost focus. The club experienced the worst outing in the season as it could not make the list of the best four teams in the country. The team won 18 out of 19 homes matches, won only one away match; drew three and lost 15. The defending champions ended the season with 61 points.

Apart from losing the 2010/2011 Premier League title, Enyimba also lost the Federation Cup to Heartland. The team’s most embarrassing moment was when the side crashed out of the CAF Champions League after losing 0:1 to Wydad Casablanca of Morocco. The defeat came as a surprise to the club’s numerous fans across the country because the team was adequately taken care of, by the Abia State government. For instance, the government doled out N120 million to the club to enable the management offset a backlog of sign-on fees owed the players. Apart from that, the club raked in over $55, 000 from scoring 12 goals in the CAF Champions League.

The tale is no less disappointing in the case of Heartland F.C. of Owerri. Despite the huge amount the state government provided for the club to pay players’ sign-on-fees and other entitlements, the club could not break even in the Premier League. At the end of the football season, the club garnered 52 points from 38 matches. It lost 18 away matches out of 18, drew one and won 16 home matches to the disappointment of its fans. But the club won the Federation Cup to calm frayed nerves.  Fan Ndubuoke, general manager, said arrangements to recruit more talented players for the club were on already.  The club has also disbanded the former Team B, which was made up of players of 30 years old, and replaced it with feeder team called Heartland Comets. “We have remained steadfast in our efforts to restructure and reposition Heartland FC and lay a foundation that will see the club become both professional in outlook and financially independent,” Ndubuoke said.

Lobi Stars of Makurdi is another club that set out to grab the league title, but failed to make a serious impact. The team garnered 53 points at the end of the season. Moses Kpakol, former general manager of the club, attributed the dwindling fortunes of the Makurdi-based club to poor management.

It was a sad season for fans of JUTH Football Club and Plateau United, as the two Jos-based clubs posted a dismal performance in the just concluded football season. JUTH ended at the bottom of the league at the end of the season with 32 points.  The club came into the premier league with a lot of enthusiasm. The management of the club even boasted that the club would emerge one of the best clubs in the league. But it lost 16 away matches, drew three; won eight home matches, lost five and drew six, and came last.

 Plateau United ended its campaign with 44 points from 39 matches. The players lost 13 away matches, won one and drew five. It won 12 home matches, got five draws and five defeats but if failed to secure enough points to remain in the premier league next season. The two teams will, no doubt, be relegated to the lower division next season.

Crown  FC of  Osogbo started the league with high optimism,  hoping to justify its elevation to the Premier League last season. But when the chips were down, Crown FC neither made any impact in the league nor improved the lot of the players. The team is among the four teams that may be demoted to the lower division judging from 37 points it garnered at the end of the season.

Zamfara United was also a disappointment. After the initial good outings, the fortunes of the club started dwindling and the team was only able to garner 39 points from 38 matches. The club won 11 home matches, lost four and drew four. Out of the 19 away matches played, the team lost 17 and drew two, winning none.

It was a disappointing outing in the 2010/2011 football season for Sharks of Port Harcourt. Despite the huge amount of money the Rivers State government released to the club, the team was only able to amass 63 points. Sharks won 15 out of 19 home matches and lost four. The club also won two away matches, drew eight and lost nine to place fifth on the league table.  Shooting Stars of Ibadan, Ocean Boys of Brass and Niger Tornadoes are other examples of teams that disappointed their fans in the 2010/2011 football season.

But it was a success story in the camps of Dolphins of Port Harcourt, Sunshine Stars of Akure, Kano Pillars and Warri Wolves. Dolphins emerged the winner of the Premier League with 73 points after beating Bukola Babes in Ilorin in their last game. The victory thwarted the dream of Sunshine Stars of winning its first league title. The Akure-based club crashed out of the CAF Confederation Cup few weeks ago, and had wanted to win the league to make up for the loss. But all the efforts of the players were in vain. However, the club came second with 71 points. Wolves of Warri garnered 66points to place third, while Kano Pillars came fourth with 65 points. With this result, both Dolphins and Sunshine Stars will represent Nigeria in the 2012 CAF Champions League, while Warri Wolves and Heartland FC of Owerri will slug it out in the Confederations Cup.

John Nwaogu, sport analyst blamed the officiating in the league which made it impossible for some good clubs to win away matches.  “Our referees are killing the league. That is why it is very difficult for Nigerian referees to officiate in FIFA- organised games because the level of corruption in their fabric will take time to cure,” he said.

 Dominic Iorfa, vice chairman, Lobi Stars once instituted a match-fixing allegation case against Sunshine Stars after match officials for a game were found travelling inside a vehicle belonging to the Nigeria Premier League, NPL officials. Iorfa alleged that Sunshine Stars compromised the referees for their rescheduled match on September 1, in Bauchi, which the team won.

Dolphins officials were also fingered in alleged match-fixing. There were allegations of match-fixing in the week 35 encounter between Plateau United and Kwara United. The match ended 7:0 in favour of Plateau United. Unfortunately the match-fixing investigation by the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF was held up because the panel could not get the transcript of a telephone conversation between a referee and club officials.