Sporting Lagos FC’s coach, Abdullahi Biffo has inferred that the major reason why the club got relegated from the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) was because they could not withstand the pressure of playing in the top-flight division.
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The well-travelled tactician, who was signed on a quickfire mission to salvage the club’s NPFL status earlier in the year, admitted that his efforts were not good enough to keep them up.
Biffo, who had previously handled top clubs like Enyimba of Aba, Kwara United of Ilorin and Katsina United, heaped praises of what he called an outstanding structure at Sporting Lagos, but admitted that a lot still needs to be done to meet up with the various challenges of Nigerian football.
The soft-spoken tactician, however, stopped short of spilling the beans on details of the private-owned team’s misfortune this season, as he opted to be philosophical with his submission.
Biffo stated coyly, “It is what it is. I always believe that, in a game of football, it is either you get it right or you get it wrong.
“For us at Sporting Lagos, we got it wrong in many games; like we saw against 3SC. That was a match we ought to have won. It was a chance we needed to escape the drop.”
Rather than expatiate on where Sporting Lagos got it wrong, Biffo declared: “The only thing I know is that NPFL is going to miss the quality of Sporting Lagos in the league. Their structure is outstanding. This is the type of structure we need to build the Nigerian league.
“I don’t want to talk much about the reasons behind what happened to us on the field and the game. What I know is that the team has a good structure. They know what they are doing.”
Biffo, though, conceded that inexperience might have been against the Lagos-based outfit, especially as it was their first time playing in the upper echelon of Nigerian football.
While admitting he was disappointed at his inability to save them from going down, Biffo posited, “This is their first time in the premier league, and this is a big lesson for all of us – the management, the players and coaches’ crew.
“If there is another time for us to come together, we should see how we can amend all departments and be able to withstand the pressure of the Nigerian league.
“All the same, it was a good experience for me. I came here in April, when the management felt there was a need to get someone in to fix the problem.
“Unfortunately, for my own side, I was unable to do anything different from what they had before my arrival. We gave it all we had, but we were disappointed at the end.”
Biffo stopped short of revealing his next line of action, as he chose to stay mum of whether he will continue with the team for next season in the lower division, Nigeria National League (NNL), or if he will throw in the towel.
