Poor Management: The bane of Akwa United

BY KENNETH JUDE

Akwa United is in  shambles. Well, this may not sound new to many football fans especially with the near fiasco that has come to characterise the team over the years. For followers of the beautiful game, the elite football club of the state have struggled over the years owing to many avoidable pitfalls arising mostly from poor management team and having technically deficient men at the helms of affairs. The problem of Akwa United has become an intractable one with all efforts geared towards revitalising or putting the side in proper shape often hitting the rocks. The more resources are pumped into the team, the more calamities befall them.

This has led to many football analysts and lovers of football wondering if the club is under a spell of sorts. In the current premier league season, Akwa United are currently 14 on the log having shown their usual traits of gross inconsistency in matches. Prior to now, it was a given that Akwa United will win their home game which always almost ended in 1 nil victories coming from last minute phantom penalty kicks awarded by consenting centre referees and at other times, when the visiting team seems to be a hard nut to crack with all plots to win at all cost failing flats, our darling team often leaves the pitch satisfied with either a score draw or nil nil. It is also sad that all the huge resources that successive administrations have invested in the team have not yielded positive results. This, of course, is attributed to the mismanagement of these funds by those saddled with the responsibility of taking the club a notch higher.

Not a few observers have vilified the Nse Ube led board for incompetency and lethargy.  The belief among football buffs is that the insincerity and shabby management of the team by those who know next to nothing about football matters is the bane of Akwa United. This has led to calls to the effect that unless the current leadership as led by Akparawa Nse Ube is dissolved, the problems bedevilling Akwa United will continue unabated. The team has continued to struggle week in week out which has left many to wonder if the club was set up for failure from the onset such that what keeps them afloat is keeping to the failure mantra establishing it. This feeling stems from the fact that Akwa United loses matches as if losing matches is fast going out of fashion. To this team, losing has seemingly become a custom. A tradition that must be upheld come what may. It’s as bad as that. The scandalous results that have attended the team’s matches in the Globacom Premier League this season has left much to be desired.  The losing margins have been helplessly alarming so much that the tepid interest hitherto shown by fans and supporters alike for the team has plummeted significantly. 

In saner climes, Akparawa Nse Ube would have voluntarily stepped down from his position just like his predecessor Obong Isong Isang did when the team was embroiled in the same crisis. But that has not been the case as the Nse Ube led leadership have maintained an indifferent poise to the perennial issues confronting Akwa United even when it is obvious that the management team have contributed significantly to the untoward fate that has befallen the team.  Adding insult to injury, Akparawa Nse Ube have been accused of going for inferior and unlettered coaches with the intent of having a share in their contractual agreements. This account for why top coaches are not recruited to handle the onerous task of making Akwa United thick and ready to compete favourably with their counterparts. Not a few people have pointed at the consistency of Kano Pillars, a northern side who have dominated the local league and almost turning it into their personal fiefdom.

One cannot deny the fact that Akwa Ibom State brims with talented players who, if given the opportunity will make waves in the game. 

But then, are these players scouted for? Have they been spotted out from the crowd? Does Akwa United even have a scouting system where people are made to go out there in search of budding talents who can be trained and polished to contribute their quota to the team? Or, are we blinded by nepotism and favouritism when it comes to this aspect? Why are we so blessed with talents yet continue to stutter, wobble and hobble in this round leather game? Are we cursed? No. God forbid, but then, can’t Akwa united begin to compete in the CAF champions’ league, Confederations Cup and other continental competitions like others every season? Why must Akwa United always battle to escape relegation every season? Does it mean the team enjoys surviving the drop by the whiskers every season? Do the oft near escape and the joy that accompanies it make them overjoyed? How can a state that is abundantly blessed by crafty footballers who can hold their own anywhere in the world accept mediocrity as a norm? It’s baffling if not sickening. The crying need to reverse this ugly trend cannot be over stressed. It’s a task that must be done and quickly too.

The fans are clearly greening with anger over the poor form of their supposedly darling team and are calling for a change in fortunes for the club. Football is a money spinner the world over. Its economic value cannot be over emphasised hence when same is treated in this clime with levity, it makes one want to throw up. Akwa United must improve else the team, in no too long a time may go extinct. God forbid! But away from all these, the reality stares us in the face. The needful must be done to change the sad tales that have always been told about Akwa United decisively. The Nse Ube led board must take the bull by the horns and prove critics that he, along with his team can change the story of Akwa United. The recent ban of Uyo Stadium from hosting Glo league matches is another sad commentary on the team. As if that is not enough, Akwa United were allegedly denied access to the Nest of Champions rechristened “Akpabio International Stadium.’’

If this is true as is being widely speculated, then, the Akwa Ibom State Government have got some questions to answer for allowing her elite club side to play its home matches at the UJ Esuene Stadium in Calabar at the cost of N350, 000 per match. That is preposterous and makes my heart sink. Some say Akwa United never applied for the Stadium with the players reportedly electing to play it matches at the UJ Esuene Stadium instead of the new Akwa Ibom State International Stadium. Another version say the club demanded to use the Stadium to prosecute its remaining home matches but were denied passage by the state government with the excuse that the Stadium is meant for “international matches!’’ Not a few people were thrown off balance by this. Who wouldn’t? Many wondered why such huge and voluminous resources could be sunk into the Stadium yet the state team is not allowed usage. The fact is that we don’t know who is saying the truth or which version we should believe in this whole drama. But the talk in town is that if indeed it is true that the Akwa Ibom State government denied Akwa United entry to the new Stadium, then it all amounts to sheer wastage all the money that went into the Stadium; this too is not forgetting the huge and inexplicable fanfare that attended the opening of the Stadium where the ‘world’ converged on Uyo that day. Have you forgotten?  

That said, all efforts must be made to return Akwa United to Uyo and have them play their home matches in their terrain rather than do so outside the state with high financial implications. How can a team that struggles to pull through its home matches be made to play same far away from home? No reason is plausible here. The world is laughing at us already for having such a magnificent facility yet our football team is running from pillar to post in search of where to play its home matches. While pundits are worried who actually is the owner of the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, what everybody cares for at the moment is to have Akwa United return home to play its matches. 

This just has to be done to save us from the embarrassment we have faced so far. On the other hand too, how much are Akwa United players earning as salaries? The League Management Committee (LMC) had at the commencement of the season directed all premier league campaigners to pay their players a minimum of N150, 000. But it appears this has not been the case with Akwa United players. No one has told us why the club can’t pay this amount. Not even the media officer has come out to tell the public what is happening with the stated amount. Does it mean that the players’ welfare is not of utmost importance to the board? In such circumstance, how does one expect these lads to give their best?  Good pay package is the greatest incentive to hard work except for few numb heads who will abuse such privilege. Something urgently should be done too in this respect failure of which will retard any progress the team intends to make.

Lastly, the culture of going for inferior players must be stopped. Akwa United is not a dumping ground for finished stars or grounds for teaching supposed professionals the basics of the game. If we must buy players, it must be the best legs that will improve the team. We shouldn’t buy for buying sake. What is worth doing is worth doing well.  Akwa United must leave this nadir and aim for the top, now! Is anyone listening?