A vastly experienced coach in the Nigerian domestic scene, Akande Fatai Smith has slammed the decision by Abia Comets FC of Umuahia to lay off 21 players from their present squad.
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Coach Smith took a closer look at the shock development, which leaves the Nationwide League One (NLO) outfit with just 14 players, and opined that it can only happen in an ‘unambitious club’ that does not have a good structure.
The graduate of Electrical Engineering from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho and current national coordinator of Football Coaches Association of African Nations (FCAAN), added that such a story usually occurs in a team that is operating without a clear cut objective.
The well-respected tactician, who played professional football in Singapore and Malaysia, after which he got a diploma from the National Institute for Sports (NIS), as well as various English FA certificates, and is now also an instructor with FCAAN, further inferred that politics and favouritism might have also played up in Abia Comets’ saga.
Smith, who earlier in his career played for three teams in the Nigerian league and handled a trio of others in the lower divisions, reasoned that club officials will always have to offload an overbloated squad at the end of each season.
He, however, submitted that it is a sad development and added: “That can only happen in a team where there is no structure, where there is no ambition and no cut out objectives of what they really set out to achieve in the first place.
“When you have 35 players in the entire team and then remove 21, it’s like you don’t have any squad again.
“That’s why I say it can only happen in a team where they don’t have a proper structure, organisation, aims and objective of what everyone is doing in the club.
“In an ideal situation, most of the players, except those that are supposed to be in the back-up team, are meant to be in a squad of maybe 25.
“Those in the backup team may be there based on age. This means younger ones that will break into the group of 25 will form the remaining 10 to make up the squad; based on many factors.”
Akande Fatai Smith, who has also coached BYT FC, AS Racines, Ijebu United and Dannaz Academy at various points in time, with two FA Cup trophies to show for his efforts, further explained how the lack of a proper structure leads to the recruitment of an excessive number of players in a typical Nigerian league club.
“The very moment there is no structure and there is no clear cut objective, everything will be determined by many political situations around the team, which would eventually lead to poor results.
“That can be the only reason why this has happened at Abia Comets. It can also be due to the fact that the coach has not seen the boys play or he does not even know their faces.
“Many clubs in Nigeria usually sign players more than the capacity that they can work with, all in the name of trying to help one person or the other.
“At the end of the day, most of the people you sign just to give them money or receive from them will be affected by the management’s review of the year, based on performances.
“If you have not been playing, you are likely going to fall into those that will be dismissed. That’s probably why the number of players dropped at Abia Comets had swollen up to that figure. The squad number was already more than what they were supposed to have.
“It’s most unfortunate. It’s not good for the league, it’s not good for the players’ development, and it’s not good for our general perspective of the league. It’s most unfortunate,” Coach Smith moaned.
