Nigeria Premier League Club Owners have charged the incoming leadership of the League Management Company LMC led by Shehu Dikko to work assiduously to make the league an attractive brand that will cause investors to compete for sponsorship of the top flight league.
Dikko heads the newly constituted 7-man board of the LMC whose assignment kick starts with the 2014/2015 Glo Nigeria premier League which kick off March 7 across the Country.
The League Club Owners have therefore charged the new board to be proactive in their quest to better the League and bring back Nigeria football fans to embrace the league as well as bring more commercial values to the league system.
Speaking with Sports Writers at the Glo Premier League Draws held at Transcorp Hilton hotel in Abuja, Acting Secretary of the Club Owners Alloy Chukwuemeka commended the out-going chairman Hon Nduka Irabor for the improvements and relative stability which the League has witnessed in the past two seasons under his care and charged the new board to consolidate on it.
He said a lot still need to be done to make the Nigeria Premier league compete favorably with other organized leagues of the World even as he added that it is the sole responsibility of the League organizers every where in the world to give direction and improve its standard with the cooperation of other relevant stakeholders.
Chukwuemeka absolved the Club owners of any blame whatsoever on any negative issues arising from managing the League , stressing that the Clubs are ever ready to make their teams available to participate adding that the organizers should make rules and ensure that it is implemented and monitored, including compliance with players / coaches contracts and wages.
According to him “for me to tell you of our expectations in the up coming season, let me first make a quick review of the last season. I must say that the last season was well above average and the climax was the super 6. I must commend the out-going chairman of LMC Hon. Irabor for the improvements so far and the relative stability that we have enjoyed in the League” he said.
“Definitely we expect a better new season and with the calibre of the man in charge now Mallam Dikko and his board, iam confident that he will deliver, so I urge him to consolidate on the records so far and try to make the league an attractive brand for investors to compete for sponsorship and partnership”
“My personal observation of the workings of the LMC in the past seasons was that a lot of focus was on trying to decorate the container instead of building the content, and that was why despite the efforts our stadia still remain empty, so I advise Dikko to focus more on building the content which is the brand inorder to attract both fans and investors”.
“Look, the Club Owners which we represent have no blame whatsoever in any negative issues which might have happened to the league. Let me tell you, ours is to organize our teams, play good football, improve the standard of our teams play and management as well as source for fund for our respective clubs. So the issue of security at stadium and better officiating and other organizational apparatus to make the league better and bring fans back to stadium resides with the organizers and their sponsors, so don’t balme us”.
“As a responsible and responsive leadership of the Club Owners, we have striven in all our policy decisions to engage in peer review mechanisms where we emulate positive styles of member-clubs which is aimed at improving our collective efforts as football administrators and so far so good we are more united as a common front in the interest of our member clubs”.
